In My Hands
by Phantwo
Summary: Perhaps the most in-depth portrayal of Ocarina of Time from the Shadow Temple onward that you'll ever read, complete with angst, action, and humour and told from Link's point of view. Ch. 10 here at last. Read and review.
1. A Hero's Darkest Fears

**IN MY HANDS  
**_By Phantwo J Fou_

_Notes: Fic is based entirely off Ocarina of Time. If you want to see evidence of other games, you're in the wrong place. Feel free to throw the rotten fruit and dead fish now. But anyway, I'll continue it if I get one review telling me I should. There's so much trash on FF.N! I decided to attempt to change that . . . my sincerest apologies if I failed utterly._

**Chapter One  
A Hero's Darkest Fears**

Darkness. It's everywhere. I'm blinded in this darkness. Suffocating darkness. All around, closing in around me.

I should hope that I, the legendary Hero of Time, am not developing a fear of the dark!

I'm so tired! Sometimes all I want to do is drop my sword, drop to the ground and take a few hours to sleep. But I can't do that—not until it's over. Not until I've punished Ganondorf for all this—all this . . . this . . . _darkness!_

Cursed darkness! Before it might have been pleasant, perhaps comforting even, at times, but now darkness goes hand in hand with fear. And I am unaccustomed to fear. Why should I be accustomed to it? After all, I am the fearless warrior Link—the hero of time. And goddesses forbid that I should be afraid! But oh, I am afraid. So very afraid.

Afraid of what? It couldn't be this dark. I've lived with dark too long and triumphed over it enough times to know I wasn't afraid of that. No, it wasn't the dark. Definitely not. Then what?

The consequences of my actions, perhaps—and the persistent voice at the back of my head saying, _You're going to fail . . . you'll come all this way and then you'll fail._ But no, I shall not fail! I _will _not. But I still hear it. . . .

_You're going to fail, Link! You're going to fail, and it will be your fault that Hyrule is destroyed at the hands of Ganondorf. It will be your fault when he kills the Princess! Your fault! All your fault!_

The blame! Now pain I could live with . . . I could even live with fear . . . but not the blame! If ever I should give in and allow evil to conquer, it would be all too easy to accept responsibility for the passing of the earth. All too easy. . . .

It makes me think of Princess Ruto of the Zoras. The mere thought of her sends a shiver through me—and not the kind of pleasant shiver I would experience thinking of Princess Zelda, or even Malon. No, the mere mention of her name made my bones run cold and my flesh crawl. But somehow, her cursed repeated advice has remained in my mind till today. Perhaps that was merely because she told me the same thing over and over and over again every time I left her in a room unattended in Jabu-Jabu's belly? Whatever it was, it still rings in my ears sometimes—even now, seven years later.

_If you're a man, act like one! Take responsibility!_

How ironic to say that to someone who was supposed to save the world, according to the Princess of Hyrule herself!

But even as I won the three spiritual stones and gradually unlocked the door to the Sacred Realm, even as I still continued to win the various medallions of the Sages to seal away evil forever, the words still reminded me steadily that I was responsible for the fate of Hyrule. I was not invincible; I should not pretend to be; for if anything should prevent me from reaching my goal, I would be the one to blame. Ego was the cause behind one too many deaths . . . let it not be the end of me! I must continue to remember that on my shoulders rested the world, and I would be solely to blame if my arrogance caused me to drop it.

Of course, right now it might not be arrogance. Right now, it might be darkness. I might put down the earth just for a moment to catch my breath, only to discover that what I'd thought was a pleasant cliffside was actually an infinite hole! For sure there were enough of those in this godforsaken place. . . . It was these places that made me wonder why I had accepted the job of world saviour for a moment, before berating myself and mentally telling myself that it was right.

_It was right. _I always did something because it was _right._ But now, as I stood looking around at the bloodstained sickles wielded by the stone figures of ghosts in this miserable place, I wondered, _How can this be right?_ The Shadow Temple was for certain one of the epitomes of evil, of immorality . . . of _wrong._

I hated all of this! All of it! Everything I had seen on this quest had filled me with despair and disgust. Horrible—it was horrible! Each new puzzle, each new battle only served to feed the fire of this festering hatred. Hatred for hatred. I hated hate.

Hate had twisted this land, and the result was this. This temple. But then, the word 'temple' implies holiness, and if this rotten dungeon has any sort of connection with the supernatural, then it's certainly not with any heavenly deity. This Shadow Temple could not even show me where I walked—not unless I had the prize, the Lens of Truth that could show me the path to freedom. And even then, I was dependent on that lens. What I would have given to have been born with an eye that could see the truth. Oh, what I would have given not to have been born at all!

No, no, no. Cease that thinking. I am so very grateful to be alive. These quests have forced me to savour every minute of my life, for I have surely had enough experiences that could have parted me and my little friend called Life within seconds. Right now, staring into the room ahead from one of the nooks in the wall, I could see another one of those experiences could be arranged if I so desired.

Oh, how I did not desire!

Perhaps death might bring an immediate end to the torture of my life, but even then I'd have to die knowing that my failure was the downfall of the world!

This darkness has reminded me of much I wished to forget. My utter dependence on my senses fills me with loathing. Normal mortals suffer this same problem without ever realising it; but the Hero of Time suffers the affliction of dependence knowing full well that should something happen to one of his senses, he would be rendered incapable of finishing his task. Right now, I am reminded how much I need to see. With so much hidden from my eyes already, how could I ever finish this if my eyes were to give out altogether?

Ah, I do love my optimism!

But though I loathe my tasks and dread each venture more than the last, I face them with dignity . . . any normal man would. I face them with dignity, and I press forth until I reach my goal. I do not stop until I have accomplished whatever goal I started out with.

I know I have to, because it is not an option to stop.


	2. Life of a Statue

**IN MY HANDS  
**_By Phantwo J Fou_

_Notes: Thank you, Kota Magic, for your kind review. . . . And if anyone else is reading this, read her fanfic 'Still Just a Little Boy'! It's so much like this one, only better! So should I just pull my head back into my little shell, pack up from the Zelda section and head back to Phantom of the Opera? You reviewers decide...._

_I find this fic rather easy to write because I hate the Shadow Temple! Thank God it's so short! Anyway, recall that I do accept all reviews, good and bad alike, so if you need to tell me anything, go ahead in a review! I'm open to criticism! I'm open to compliments! I'm open to anything, as long as it's a review!_

**Chapter Two  
Life of a Statue**

I stood up wearily and cast a glance into the room ahead. How much time had passed, I wondered vaguely, since I had paused here? How much time did I have left, before it was too late to rescue Hyrule and my efforts here had been in vain?

What time was it?

It almost startled me to notice that I no longer had any idea whether it was morning or evening. Seconds could have been minutes, or days could have been hours . . . somehow in the depths of this dungeon, time could slip by so utterly unnoticed that I could pause for what I perceived to be but half a minute, only to discover I had wasted away three hours! Three hours I could have spent outside of this dreadful haunt, if I had spent them searching for the keys to reach and at last defeat the master behind this evil. . . .

And even once I had defeated whatever creature was behind the locked doors, the Master was still waiting for me in a dungeon still further ahead. I still had not won.

It was beginning to seem to me that I would never win.

I ran out into the open, unprotected from the blades knifing through the air carelessly, as though life and death meant nothing. There, in the centre of the room, were the stone figures of two ghosts, each bearing a wide, rough-edged sickle stained crimson in various places. These lifeless statues were not designed to protect the temple from evil; they were designed to _do_ evil, _by_ evil. These endlessly spinning statues could never know their purpose; they could never hear the screams and feel the pain of those whose lives they so cleanly ended. They simply continued to turn and so continued to kill, completely oblivious to everything.

I should like to be a statue. Yes, indeed. . . . Unfeeling, unknowing—a beautiful edifice for people to stare at, turn away from, and forget. If I were a statue, I could stare out upon the thousands, without seeing, without knowing, without feeling . . . without seeing the expectation in their eyes, the hopelessness in the land around, the pleading. Yes, I should indeed love to be a statue!

Hurriedly I cast my gaze about the room for the exit. There were so many doors . . . which one was the one that I needed to be using? I had the key to every door in this blasted dungeon; I simply lacked the knowledge of the locations of those doors. If I could only find that door, I could kill the chief monster behind this madness and be off and out of this temple for good—if only!

I reached for my map. That door was on here somewhere, I knew, signified by a skull. Whoever drew these maps was hardly subtle! If the artist was trying to protect the creatures guarding this edifice, he was failing, but I was hardly in a position to argue. I merely took whatever could help me get out of here alive as quickly as possible.

There . . . in the fourth basement . . . I glanced to my left. There was no door there to take me down, like my map said—just another cranny in the wall with a painting of a twisted smiling face on one side. There was nothing there that was useful to me! Nothing!

Suddenly I groaned. Foolishness! Of _course_ I couldn't see anything useful! In this temple, _nothing_ useful was visible to the naked eye! I lifted the Lens of Truth and glanced back at the wall. Of course. Underneath the face was a hole. Naturally.

Now I had the task ahead of avoiding those blades, but I had a feeling that if my legs would support me, I could jump—or, at the very least, crawl under them. I could even run and keep ahead of them, and if lack of energy forced me to, I could take a rather risky nap and duck down underneath the blades for a while. Risky? Of course it was risky. Should I awaken and forget where I was, I could very easily lose my head. And then, I would die feeling the pang of inconsolable_ guilt_ in my last moments alive. . . . Risky? Of course! Should I fall asleep here, one of the black creatures from this hell could very easily find me dozing, and what then would I do? Should I jump up and fight him, I could very easily lose track of the deadly sickles and leap right into my unpleasant demise.

But then, what creature could get past these blades, if _I_ couldn't?

How would dwelling on this help me? The chances of my legs giving out were slim to none . . . but if I didn't run, I'd never have the chance to find out. Frantically I stood up and made a mad dash for the other side of the room, diving down into the hole in the wall as soon as it was reachable. Although I did vaguely feel myself hitting the stone floor roughly, I was oblivious to the pain of the landing, thankfully, and it took me a moment before I realised that I'd made it here safely.

"Link? Are you all right? Link?"

"Navi?" It took me a moment to process that voice. Navi, my fairy. Sent to be my guide and guardian by the Great Deku Tree himself . . . by heaven, how long ago had _that_ been? Seven years?

_Seven years!_

Navi gave me very little time to think about it. "Are you hurt? You seem to have taken quite a fall there. You well?"

I paused for a moment, contemplating how time indeed had no meaning, before replying. "I'm fine, Navi. And it was a dive, not a fall. But—thank you."

"Excuse me, Sir Hero—you took quite a _dive._ And aren't you graceful, sprawling like that on the ground . . . you could have fallen through that hole and then alas for Link!" The peppery little fairy was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "Don't worry me like that."

"I appreciate your concern, Navi, my sweet," I replied with what I hoped was _subtle_ sarcasm. "And I shall try not to arouse your concern. But if you should be less obliged to worry with me in there running around with those blades, then it is no trouble for me to go back in there."

Navi remained silent. I lifted the Lens to my eyes again as I stood up, feeling some of my ability to use the magic it carried drain in the process, and glanced toward the face. There, in front of its hideous grin, was a gaping hole, and on one of the walls to either side of it was a fence. A fence like so many I'd climbed before—a fence I could use to get down.

Praying that this hole was unlike some others I had encountered on my journey and had a bottom, I lowered myself down and started descending. As Navi slipped into my hat silently, I glanced down, half-expecting to see myself crawling down into a trap; but to my surprise, what I had perceived as mere blackness before was actually a solid rock floor. A solid rock floor, only about ten or fifteen feet below me.

Ah, I was in luck!

As soon as my feet touched the floor, I raised the Lens again to make sure there were no more holes. I had only been in this temple for mere hours—or had I?—and already I'd learned to distrust holes . . . especially holes that were so _conveniently_ located. Thankfully, there was nothing ahead of me that I could not already see, so I lowered the purple instrument that had saved my life more than twice to preserve my strength. Taking a step forward, I looked ahead, to my right . . . and then to my left.

Immediately I hurried over toward the spectacle that met my eyes. Logically I doubted them. But the Eye of Truth had shown me nothing except what I had already seen—so was there, perhaps, something even the legendary Eye of Truth couldn't show me?

For ahead of me, there was a break in the stone floor spanning about fifty feet or so. Looking down into that break, I could see nothing but blackness—a neverending, haunting darkness I had seen before in so many places around this temple.

And there, floating in that darkness, was a sailboat.

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_Hey, look, a boat. And Stalfos in the next chapter! Thank you, reviewers, for your reviews . . . and for those of you who haven't, read _Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time_ by Arxane. (What an original title!) It's here on FF.N, and it's pretty good—Ocarina of Time with a twist. Anyway. Hope you liked this chapter. Suggestions, comments, and criticism welcome. Compliment at your own risk. *grin*_


	3. Abandon Ship

**IN MY HANDS  
**_By Her Worship, Phantwo J Fou the Great, the Eminence of Geniusness and Brilliance and Everything You Wish You Were But Aren't*_

_Thank you, kind reviewers! Thank you so much! Thanks for the suggestions, and, by the way, I changed the genre of the fic to angst—fittingly. It was drama before, if you don't recall. Anyway, Link will be fighting that ridiculous boss soon, but not before Stalfos. Perhaps I should change the genre also to Action/Adventure as a secondary. You decide. Comments and criticism welcome. Oh yes, and if it seems rushed or my stress comes out in the story, bear in mind that finals are rapidly approaching and studying makes free time increasingly rare. Not that I study much, but besides the mountains of schoolwork I suffer already. . . . Anyway, here's the "long-awaited" third chapter to a not-so-long-awaited fic. Read and review!_

_*Note: I'm not._

**Chapter Three  
Abandon Ship**

Yes, floating there was a sailboat. Completely unsupported, it just drifted there in the misty hole of nothingness and took my breath away in shock.

"Link, look at _that!_" said Navi breathlessly. "There's a—there's—there's a _sailboat!"_

"Very perceptive, Navi," I replied sardonically. "And I suppose you expect me to climb up on the deck and hop onto the boat and sail away!"

"Why, of course!" she told me innocently. "There's a platform against the wall. I'm sure you can climb up—uh—with the help of that block over there."

I cast a glance hurriedly to the right and took notice of the box she spoke of, sitting near the wall I'd crawled down to get in here. Then I threw my eyes back to the platform Navi had seen and groaned. Of course the distance between the two had to be the length of the entire room—a hundred feet at least. And that block didn't look exactly light. But then, my seven years of rest in the Temple of Light after pulling that Master Sword had strengthened me considerably. With a weary sigh I hurried over to the wall and stood behind the block, throwing Navi one last glance before giving the block a jerky shove and sending it flying at least ten feet. Perhaps I had misjudged the weight of the block. . . .

Navi, at least, was impressed. She flew over to the stone, then flew back to me, settled in my hat and said quietly, "My, my, Link, you are an amazing little Hylian."

I shrugged, even though she couldn't see, and started pushing again. "Thank you, Navi. But funny you should mention that. I imagine I'd be a lot littler if I were still a Kokiri."

"When were you _ever_ a Kokiri?" she retorted.

I stopped pushing the block long enough to ponder that for a moment; then, deciding it was an exercise in futility, I continued the journey down to the other wall. Navi seemed pleased that she had sussed me momentarily, for she fell silent and waited for me to reach the opposite side of the room before speaking again.

Indeed, it was not until a resonating _thud_ signified that I had reached the wall that she flew out, surveyed the results, and gave a fairy nod—she darted up, then down, then up again quickly. With a half-hearted grin I climbed up onto the block and then onto the platform with her familiar blue light by my ear. Finally I reached the edge, and as I glared at the spectacle before me, Navi uttered a tiny, "Wow."

Then, of course, she added, "Now, be a good boy and hop on. We don't want to miss the boat, now do we?"

I was sorely tempted to remark, "Oh, yes, we do," as Navi zipped effortlessly into my hat, but I thought better of it and obeyed my guardian fairy like a little puppy dog in Hyrule Castle Town—before the people were taken over by those miserable zombies. Trying not to think about the consequences should I end up missing the boat _anyway,_ I took the leap of faith and prayed desperately to the goddesses that I'd land on the deck.

The sensation of the ship's deck underneath my winged boots caused me to release my breath—which I hadn't noticed I'd been holding until now—with relief. I cast a brief glance around me to assess my surroundings, but my observations fell short of pleasing. Again I looked about me, yet with each glance I was more aware that there was nothing for me to find. The more I searched, the more apparent it became; there had been no reason to come up here.

For the ship was not moving, there was no one on it, and nothing that met my eyes could help me in any way.

Feeling an unfamiliar annoyance welling up, I pulled off my hat and threw it to the ship's deck, forcing a certain fairy to fly out quickly. Then I retrieved the limp bit of cloth from the floor and replaced it over my hair and turned to face her.

"What was that for?" she demanded irritably. "I was just getting comfortable! And you—"

I sighed. I was by nature a patient man, but Navi could push even the most quiet chap to his limits, and since I wasn't exactly in a good mood anyway, it seemed appropriate for me to cut her off before she could finish ranting. "And I did what you asked and I've not been rewarded. You're supposed to be my assistant in this quest, Navi, so _you_ find the mechanism that starts this miserable contraption. I don't see anything."

She didn't reply immediately, and as she flew away to search, I set back to looking. There was nothing on the ship but Navi and me, and there were no adornments except for a statue at the bow and the emblem of the Triforce painted on the—

_Fool!_ I berated myself. _It's right in front of you!_

"Never mind, Navi!" I shouted to the fairy, hurrying over to the golden crest. "I think I found it."

"About time," she muttered. "And what do you mean, you _think?_ What is it? Where? How do you activate it?"

Before she could question me further, I reached into my quiver, where I kept a few small possessions for quick recall, for my ocarina. Tenderly I pulled it out, pausing for a brief moment to stare at the pale blue instrument reverently, and brought it to my lips. This ocarina—the treasure of Hyrule, the Ocarina of Time—had been granting me wish after wish, so I had very little doubt it would serve me well now. Standing on the crest, I began to play the melody of the Royal Family, Zelda's Lullaby.

As soon as I finished with the last notes, a deafening creaking issued and the boat began to shake. A hush fell over both Navi and me, and then, as I had expected, the boat began to move forward, slowly at first, but gaining momentum as it moved. Soon we were sailing almost freely over the—for the lack of a better word—nothingness below us, and Navi breathed, "Wow."

I replaced the ocarina in my quiver and turned back to Navi. She sighed. "You've really done it, Link! You've really done it!"

"So I have," I agreed, walking unsteadily toward the edge to witness our flight, or voyage, whichever it was. I hesitated to go near the edge, since the boat's rocking movements made it hard enough to stand still on my own two feet, and I'd already decided that I had no desire to fall off. Navi, being the lucky fairy she was, had no worries, and she darted carelessly over to me and hovered over the edge almost brazenly.

"I'm sorry for making fun of you," she began to apologise. "You're not worthle—"

But she was unable to finish, for there was an unpleasant war cry and an unsettling _thud_ behind us. Even before I turned, I knew what to expect. Drawing the Master Sword from its scabbard on my back, I drew in my breath and clutched my shield in my right hand. Then I whirled and dashed toward the Stalfos behind me with my left fist clutched around the hilt of my sword tightly.

Navi flew over to the Stalfos and flew around it in dizzying circles, deliberately attempting to annoy it and drive it absolutely crazy. It was a little tactic we had devised together before I'd pulled this sword from the Pedestal of Time, and it had worked with some of the monsters we'd encountered on this foolhardy mission; by the looks of things, it was working this one as well, since the Stalfos started striking its crooked blade at Navi angrily—and unsuccessfully. She was far too fast for it and far too small to hit with the dagger, so the Stalfos gave up trying and dropped it to the deck. Then it reached out to grab Navi and missed. Running up from behind, I seized the opportunity to strike and felt my sword contact the deformed skeleton roughly.

The Stalfos cried out in pain and jerked around violently to face me, too caught up in its blind rage to notice me kick its dagger off the side of the boat until after the twisted sword had fallen. Caught off guard and unarmed, it seemed none too happy to be facing me, the Hero of Time who was sent to scatter its sorry remains all over this temple. The feeling was mutual. And I can't say that I'd blame the poor Stalfos; I'd be a little intimidated to fight me, too. Unfortunately, unlike this monster, I'd had that experience before. . . .

Though it had no sword to speak of, the Stalfos did have a shield, which it used diligently as I sped around it and tried to attack. I ran for at least a minute before an opportunity finally came. Once I found it, I didn't hesitate to take it, and I dove at the Stalfos with my sword extended. Blade met bone with a cacophonous clang. I finished pulling my sword through it and jumped back before it could jump on me. Just because the Stalfos was unarmed didn't render it harmless, after all. Again I raised my shield and started running again. One more strike should be enough to kill it, I guessed. Just one more strike!

I didn't want to wait long for that strike, so I rolled toward its ankles, figuring I could at least distract it. I hadn't even considered that I might have tripped it until the armoured skeleton came tumbling down beside me just as I straightened. But I had learned not to question my luck. Taking advantage of every second, I drove my sword through the Stalfos with deadly efficiency (if I do say so myself!) and then yanked it out to send the bones flying in every direction. At last this dreadful encounter was over!

I took a deep breath. We were almost to the other side of the room now; I could see a wall approaching out of the corner of my eye. Slowly I began to walk over to the bow of the ship, where Navi was still floating. But I had barely passed the crest when another crash behind me made me turn immediately . . .

. . . to face _another_ Stalfos!

Cursing Ganondorf, Stalfos, the Shadow Temple, and the Master Sword for choosing _me_ to be the Hero of Time, I reached for my sword and ignored Navi shouting at me. Only when I had knocked the sword from the second Stalfos' hand did I turn and pay attention to her mad yells.

"Link, this ship is sinking!" she shrieked. "Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Oh, in the name of Nayru's Love, Link, _run!"_

It took approximately a quarter-second for that to register. Then my eyes popped wide open as I felt the ship beneath me start to tremble, then quake. Frantically I made a frenzied leap from the deck of the ship to the platform off the port side of the ship. But as I fell through the air towards the ground, I realised with horror what an utter idiot I must have been to jump before at least looking at the ledge with the Lens of Truth. Even if I should land on what appeared to be solid ground, I could take a step forward only to find myself falling again—and this time I'd be falling to no end!

As the ground rapidly approached, I braced myself for the landing. Hopefully this rapidly approaching ground was real. The temple had made reality so twisted that the mere sight of land in a convenient spot was dubious, and I doubted my eyes more often than I believed them. In fact, I was so convinced that I wasn't going to land that once my feet met hard ground beneath them I went sprawling for a moment. However, sprawling a little was infinitely better than falling, and I've also learned to count my blessings! After a moment of rolling, I hopped up and looked around.

It took me completely by surprise when Navi shouted, "Um, Link, Stalfos to the rear. Li-i-i-ink!"

Would I never reach the end of this? Already I'd suffered the many battles to get where I was now, and I had to face still another. The Sword has misjudged me. A Kokiri, the Hero of Time?

_No,_ I thought sadly, _not a Kokiri. A Hylian, Link, a Hylian._

I had no time to think. The thoughts barely had a moment to race through my tortured mind. I had to spring into action immediately and finish off the second Stalfos whose sword I'd disposed of. Honestly, I was a little proud of myself for that particular feat, but I had no time nor no right to allow my ego to feed on my victories. A few clever tricks were nothing exceptionally grand or irreproducible, and besides, would the ability to disarm a Stalfos break the curses on Hyrule? Of course not.

I suppose being the boy without a fairy really affected my self-esteem. . . .

This Stalfos I managed to knock off the side of the cliff into the pit of blackness below. Each time I hit its shield, I knocked it backward a little until I finally took advantage of it and struck particularly hard. The Stalfos stumbled and tumbled, and I stood at the edge of the cliff to watch it fall. Then I had the opportunity to look around.

To my right was a door. To my left was a pillar extending from this platform all the way up to the ceiling, far above my head. And ahead of me was another bottomless pit, and beyond that, a platform much like the one upon which I stood now.

And over there, beyond me, was a locked door. . . .

A locked door for which I had the key.

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So, what did everybody think of my not-so-angsty chapter three? It's got that element, but it's mostly _doing_ stuff in this chapter. Anyway, I'll write more when I can . . . now's the time for lots of studying and making up missed assignments, and I'm not pleased about that. Now be responsible readers and review! I need to know if I should continue, and how close to the game I should stay!

So **REVIEW! **It means something! And remember, **ALL REVIEWS ARE WELCOME!** Comments, criticisms, flames—I accept them all! Thanks!


	4. Blind as a, um, Blind Person

**IN MY HANDS  
**By the One and Only Phantwo J Fou  
_(what the J stands for is anyone's guess) _

_A/N: My sincerest apologies to Kota Magic, who is very female! No hard feelings perhaps, but I'm a slave to guilt. And schoolwork. At the time of this writing, finals are only one day away! All my hard ones are in a row. At least I get those over with! Anyway, I'm going to note now that I write this note before writing the chapter and I write the note at the end after I finish (typically), so at the end of this chapter, I might have already finished finals. Enjoy this chapter, in which there will be a little puzzle solving and more angst! More dark and scary Shadow Temple . . . um . . . freakiness! FUN! (Now that I'm done being zany, now I should get to being profooound... Heh.)_

**Chapter Four  
Blind as a, um, Blind Person**

According to my map, the boss of this domain was just beyond that locked door, in some chamber yonder. I could see the door that would be opened by the last little key in my possession; I could not see any way to get across the void ahead of me, however. The Lens of Truth revealed nothing, either. Curses. Wishing that tedious and hateful instrument some ill fate as soon as I no longer had need of it—which unfortunately I felt was not going to be any time soon—I stuffed it away into my quiver and wondered how I was going to get across.

Solving these tiresome puzzles time after time had begun to rattle my nerves a little. I had absolutely no desire to do any of this; the only desire I had was to heed the plea of my aching muscles and rest. If only I had the option, I'd have simply crawled under my Hylian shield and gone to sleep, like I'd done when I was still a child, when the shield was big enough—or I small enough—to cover me.

Dwelling on the past would get me nowhere. And yet it was so preferable to dealing with the present. . . .

Navi came to hover by my ear, completely silent save for the faint humming of her wings. Navi, my guardian fairy, assigned to me by the Deku Tree himself. For all of Nayru's divine love I missed him . . . oh, perhaps the Deku Sprout was now growing pleasantly in the forest, but it wasn't the _same!_ Then again, since Ganondorf seized power, I had my doubts that anything would _ever_ be the same. . . .

Navi, who had been given the fate of protecting me from myself, from my own stupidity. Who had been given the fate of encouraging me in these moments—although she had a rather bothersome way of 'encouraging' me—of weakness. Who had been given the fate of helping me through this quest.

Who I was now assigning the job of finding the way to that door.

After presenting this idea, the fairy launched into a stream of complaints, which probably would have never ceased if I had not swatted her. For all her assigned duties of encouraging _me,_ she herself needed encouragement a lot more than I did! Even as I sent her on her way, she continued to mutter and grumble, her high-pitched voice filled to the brim with irritation.

"_'_You_ find the bridge, Navi! _You _find the switch!'_ Always _me!_ Why doesn't Link try to find the bridge on his own sometime, that good-for-nothing little Hylian brat? Why do I even bother being his fairy? Why do I even bother?"

I seemed to recall that _I _had been the one to find the activation switch to the boat, but I decided not to say anything.

"Well, Link, I don't see anything," she snapped at me upon her return. "There's nothing but a few statues, a bomb flower, and a really, really big pillar."

She was right. Across the way there was a patch of bomb flowers to the far left, that really big pillar just behind them, and to the right a couple of statues. Nothing useful at all.

Except those bomb flowers. . . . 

"And you find absolutely nothing peculiar about a patch of bomb flowers so conveniently located?" I asked Navi with a quizzical eyebrow raised. "Look. They're situated right in front of the pillar. And look up. It looks tall enough to reach over here, doesn't it? _I_ think it does."

She scoffed. "And I suppose you're just going to say, 'Fall, pillar, fall!' and it'll fall down here and make you a little walkway! Link, have I ever mentioned to you how illogical you are? And how—"

"I don't suppose it'll fall on my command," I interrupted, "but if the foundation were to be destroyed. . . ." Before she could say anything more, I reached into my quiver, drew an arrow and hooked it to my Fairy Bow hastily. I took aim quickly and sent the arrow flying into the centre of the flowers.

Every one of them exploded upon my arrow's contact with the middle one. A loud blast resonated from the garden of explosives and momentarily all I could see over there was a haze of fire and debri. Then all fell silent. For another minute after detonation, there was no sound at all—_nothing_. Nothing to hear, nothing to see—the pillar had not changed at all.

After that minute of complete quiet had passed, I started to feel my face heating up. So it had happened again; I'd been wrong. That hadn't been the key to getting over after all, and Navi was right; I was illogical and stupid. Indeed, what a great fool I had been to accept this fate at all! And she'd remind me of that incessantly from this day forward. . . .

In fact, she was going to start now. "Well, Sir Hero! That was successful, wasn't it? Now you've lost an arrow and we're no clo—"

But a loud creaking cut her off, and both of us glanced back to the pillar anxiously. It wavered precariously for another ten seconds or so; then, with another groan, it began to fall towards us.

Neither of us said anything until the pillar finished its descent with a defeaning crash. I took an incredulous step forward. Navi remained where she was.

"Well, Link," she uttered sheepishly a moment later, "perhaps you aren't useless after all."

I grinned at her. "Hush, Navi! We haven't the time for pointless conversation! There are still monsters to fight!"

"Since when were _you_ so enthusiastic about fighting monsters?" she remarked as I ran across the bridge I'd created. I merely shrugged and ran faster. The enthusiasm I was feeling right now made me feel like I could fight an entire army of Stalfos.

I knew I'd regret that thought if ever I should actually face that challenge, of course, but I probably wasn't going to, at least not immediately, so there seemed to be no harm in at least thinking it for a minute.

In a minute I was on the other side and very pleased with myself. Oh, I wasn't outrageously happy that I had discovered this—this wouldn't fill the holes in my heart, this wouldn't save Hyrule . . . but at least I triumphed over Navi. That was a good enough reason for me to be pleased.

Pulling my key from the quiver, I hurried over to the door with Navi trailing behind. Soon I had opened the lock and entered the room.

. . . and realised I still lacked the key I needed most!

_Fool, Link! You're no hero . . . you're just a first-class, grade-A moron!_

"You seem to be lacking something," Navi said blandly as we stared at the door yet ahead, padlocked with the gold lock that would only yield to the gaudy and overdecorated Boss Key . . . the gaudy and overdecorated boss key that I didn't have.

I nodded quietly and humbly. Then I reached for my map.

The chambers that I'd already been in had been marked off in blue ink; I took a moment to mark off the last two I'd entered before studying the map to find that key. Navi and I scanned the map hastily. Had I been in every chamber in this whole dungeon . . . and missed it? But how? How could I have been in every chamber and _missed_ it? Was that even . . .

Oh.

It was in _that_ section.

Naturally I hadn't even laid my eyes on _that_ section of the map.

_That_ section. The section I hadn't been in yet. Of course I'd overlooked it. It was in my idiotic nature to do such things. Perhaps Navi did have a basis for her claims about me after all.

"It seems to me that there's a door outside that we've not entered yet," I sighed, rolling the map back up. "I suppose we'll have to go there to find the key."

"You've very perceptive, aren't you, Link?" Navi replied sarcastically. Patiently I nodded, turning around to go back out.

Unlike my first trip over, I had very little spring in my step as we passed over the makeshift bridge. Why should I be excited? In the next room, there'd undoubtedly be more monsters and more puzzles (which translates to _more pain)_. That was hardly something to feel enthusiastic about!

_When I find Princess Zelda, _I thought resentfully, _I'm going to tell her how stupid she was to send _me_ on this mission._

But she _had _sent me to do this, whether I liked it or not; therefore, it was my duty as a loyal citizen of Hyrule to carry out her orders. Yes, her instructions were aimed at the wrong person; yes, her instructions had sent me on a rat race in which I'd been lucky to survive thus far; yes, right now I wanted to tell her that she was foolish to send me on this foolhardy quest. . . . But she had sent me—_me—_and so I was going to follow through.

I call it honour. Navi calls it stupidity.

When my feet hit the ground on the other side of the bridge, I looked to my left. Yes . . . there it was—a door. I paused to wonder why I hadn't seen it before. It had been right there, after all, beckoning me, even begging me, to enter it, and I had ignored it. Not that I blamed myself for ignoring it. I hadn't remembered that I lacked that key, after all.

I strolled over to the door. Such an unspectacular door. . . . One would never guess that it stood for such tragedy if one only looked upon this door! The world was a strange place, trying to hide its sorrows with such a feeble cover. But then, before Ganondorf, perhaps even this unholy place could have been . . . peaceful. . . .

I shuddered at the thought.

With a sigh, I opened the door and cautiously took a step in. Before I took another, I reached out my left foot and pushed down on the ground a little . . . ah, yes, the ground was solid! My heart slowed down to a more tolerable rhythm and I took a look around to see what I had to do.

My findings made me catch my breath in my throat.

Before me were three—not one, not two, but _three!—_particularly ugly things that made me think of a dead and shriveled hand waiting for me. They were a hideous mahogany colour, with long, lanky fingers; to my knowledge they had no eyes. They stood about three feet off the floor; they were almost half my height! Killing these things would be a nightmare. . . .

I was about to utter something to Navi, but she beat me to it. Just as my lips opened, she whispered, "Floor masters!"

"Floor masters? _Floor masters?" _I glanced at her with scorn, then went on sarcastically, "That's a brilliant name, Navi! I couldn't have done better myself!"

"Well, Sir Hero, then I am hereby allowing you to call them what you like. And if you _don't_ want me to tell you how to kill them, then I can shut up!"

The one time I didn't want her to shut up, she offered to shut up! Why wasn't she this obliging the rest of the time? "Navi, can I reserve that offer for later use?"

"No," she retorted. "Now, Link, once you strike these things with your sword, they'll break into miniature versions of themselves. If you don't kill them, they can restore themselves back to their original size . . . and if you don't do it fast, you could end up with more than you started with. And when they start to glow—they turn green like—like that! Link, _watch out!"_

I snapped to attention as she screamed, just in time to see the floor master—who had made _that_ one up?—begin to glow an ugly shade of green, lift up off the ground, and come flying straight toward me. I raised my shield to repel it . . . and saw it smash helplessly into . . . into the _air!_

Navi didn't have an answer for that. Both of us stared at the disoriented monster in confusion as it stood and tried to get its bearings. Once it was reasonably steady, it stepped back and prepared to attack again.

Again, it released an unpleasant crash as it came to a smashing halt against . . . _something._ I looked at Navi inquisitively, but she didn't have anything to say—for once.

Then the answer hit me at least as hard as that pitiful floor master had hit whatever was blocking it. It was so obvious that I wondered why it had taken me this long. After all, I hadn't been able to view anything else in this temple without the Lens of Truth . . . so why should this room be any different?

Upon glancing through the magical lens, I saw a stone wall. Plenty of stone walls, in fact, all throughout the room. Navi and I both gasped in unison.

"Hardly what I expected to find here," she admitted. "Somehow I figured that the floor masters weren't such masters as their name implied."

"Hmm," I agreed, looking for an opening in the wall to head into one of the three doors around the room. There was a door in each corner—according to my map, at least—but I couldn't see any of them with this stone wall blocking my view. After a moment of scanning the walls, I found a break to the right, and I hurried over.

The floor master—I shall have to find some other name to refer to it!—noticed too, however, since it lacked the lens of truth and could see right through the walls. I raised my shield again as it started to glow, then readied myself for the impact. The giant hand proceeded to charge, just to bounce off my shield. Then I reached back for my sword and dove toward the monster, praying to the Three Goddesses I'd hit it and my first tribulation would be over. Navi assisted me in targeting.

Well, my sword hit home . . . but the rotten thing split into three tiny versions of itself!

"That's what I was talking about," Navi said lowly. "Quick, Link, kill them before they grow!"

By Farore's wind, they were fast! The miserable creatures scattered in every direction, leaving me wondering helplessly which way to go first. I chased after one of them for a minute before catching it and slicing it cleanly with the Master Sword. Then I turned to find the other two.

One of them was right there in front of me, lying in wait for me to turn around so it could attack. . . . 

. . . and attack it did.

The tiny thing leaped up and grabbed at my throat. At first, it was merely a nuisance. I reached up to punch it off . . . and then I was aware of pain.

_Pain!_

I could not breathe; I couldn't even open my eyes. Oh, but the pain was nothing—not compared to the frustration! The pain held me in place while this accursed mini-hand choked the life out of me, and I was so weakened I couldn't rip it off. . . .

Just when I felt like oblivion would reign over me, though, it released me. In surprise I opened my eyes.

And there was Navi, shouting at it, "And don't you dare touch him again, you big, uh, big _meanie!"_

I couldn't help but chuckle a little at that as I slashed at the creature that had almost managed to steal my senses. This time, it fell down and didn't get up again. Now there was one more to kill. This one, I swore, would _not_ get the better of me. . . .

Navi's tiny gasp alerted me, however, and I whirled to face what she had seen.

One more to kill—one more, who had mysteriously become larger since last I saw it!

"It just _expanded,_ Link! I was about to throw this rock at it, but then it . . . it just grew! And now, it's—"

"Shut up, Navi!" I shouted. I wasn't in the mood to hear about how what had been small and seemingly harmless had suddenly turned into such a repulsive and imposing menace. "When I get it, throw that rock anyway, all right?"

She gave me a fairy nod, which was my signal to lunge at it desperately. Steel met skin; the floor master let out a sickening squeal, then split into smaller pieces. But this time I was ready for them. With Navi's help, we targeted the three of them and I sliced them, one by one, until they all lay motionless on the ground. At last! I had finally, at long last, killed the wretched beast!

Then I reached up to my still-tender neck to massage it a little, hoping to ease the pain that still assaulted me. But my hands met something sticky and wet and I drew them away quickly in disgust. I thought nothing of it until it struck me—what would be on my neck that was . . .

Suddenly I looked down at my hands . . . and saw blood.

Those accursed floor masters had made me _bleed!_

Then I rebuked myself. If I had said that aloud, I could just imagine Navi telling me, _Very perceptive, Link. . . ._

"Link, your—your neck's . . ." Navi started, but she trailed off at my look of ice.

"Yes, I know," I muttered. "By the goddesses. . . ."

Slowly I turned and looked through the Lens again to find the walls. The closest door was to my right, and I started running for the door. There was another floor master behind me, preparing to attack, but if I could reach the door first, then it wouldn't matter if it lived . . . would it?

"Link, behind you!" Navi cried. I could hear it as it prepared to attack . . . but the door was only a few short feet away. . . . "Link, you idiot, turn around! Link—!"

I opened the door and ran through, just in time to hear it smash into the door behind me.

One tribulation narrowly avoided!

But an earsplitting creak made me look around . . . and what I saw made my blood run cold.

The walls on each side of me were closing in—and the walls were covered in spikes. There was no way out except to go back through the door, and then I'd have to face that floor master. Either way, I was trapped.

"I think we made a mistake in coming here," I said to Navi.

In a panic-ridden voice dripping with sarcasm, she retorted, "Oh, you _think?"_

---------------

Well! As I suspected, by the time I finished this chapter (which was about twice as long as the previous chapters, if you hadn't noticed!) I was done with finals! I did very well on most of them . . . I know I got a perfect score on at least one! That made me happy!

I actually started playing Ocarina of Time again so I could write the Shadow Temple with as much accuracy as possible. . . . Not that I really mind, since I love that game so much. This time around, I did my two least favourite temples in a row, the Fire Temple and the Shadow Temple. Hope my efforts have paid off. Now **REVIEW!** Bless your souls! Compliments, comments, criticism and flames are welcome! Anything is welcome, so long as it is THERE! Heheh. So review! (Yes, I'm begging!)

Oh yes . . . for all the ladies out there, I realised this week that the initials of Link's title _Hero of Time_ spell _HOT._ Coincidence? I think not!


	5. A Lesson in Pyrotechnics

** IN MY HANDS   
**By the Certified Loser Phantwo J Fou 

_Author's notes: This time around, I'm going to apologise for taking a while with this one. I took a break for almost a week after posting the last chapter from writing this one. Finally, I'm shown mercy from school with a weekend, so I can return to writing. Now . . . think fast, Link!_

**Chapter Five  
A Lesson in Pyrotechnics**

_Thunk!_

The floor master smashing into the door behind me. . . .

_Creeeeeak!_

The walls closing in on either side of me. . . .

_Liiiiiink!_

The fairy hovering by my shoulder. . . .

_Cuuuuurses!_

Me. . . .

For the twenty millionth time since entering this temple, my heart ached with the painful knowledge that at my hands the world would fall to ruin—because I'd been careless and stupid and had entered a room like this and had been impaled and crushed. Utterly paralysed by fear and a sudden pang of guilt, I allowed precious seconds to go by and the walls to come closer and closer, preparing themselves for the easy kill before them.

For some reason, I had a sudden horrid vision of the two walls coming alive and emitting a sinister laugh at me, the famed Hero of Time, who had just unwittingly walked into a trap. . . .

Then I wondered what was wrong with me that I was giving life, breath, thought and feeling to a pair of wooden walls covered with splintery spikes.

Wooden walls . . .?

"Navi," I said without warning, "these walls are wooden."

"Oh, are they?" she remarked impatiently. "Isn't that just wonderful, Link? They're wooden—and they're still going to murder us both if you don't turn your fool back and exit this room immediately!"

"No, Navi," I replied calmly. "They're wood. And I'm sure you know as well as I do that wood—"

Without finishing I closed my eyes, allowed my mind to wander, and reached into my quiver for a small crystal. At first glance one would never guess what idea I'd conjured; they'd pass me off as another callow schoolboy with a soft spot for pretty trinkets. A small clear crystal with a glossy orange light emanating from the centre, resembling an eternal fire—yes, another pretty toy for another shallow kid.

But no, this crystal signified so much more than that. . . .

Clutching it tightly in my left hand, I released a shout and threw my hands toward the ground. A shout, which summoned the power that this crystal really stood for—the power of Din's Fire.

Instantly a bright light flashed, and an orange glow started to form around me. Soon the glow became a raging fire, expanding until it engulfed everything in the room with its divine flame. And then, suddenly, as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared completely.

Both walls, too, had disappeared in the process.

I danced.

That is, I danced until I noticed two flaming zombies—ReDeads, Navi'd called them—one waiting for me at each end of the room. Thankfully I stopped then, for Navi was zipping back and forth, giving me the impression she'd been getting tired of watching me execute the clumsy flailing of my limbs in every direction, the manoeuvre I referred to as a _dance._ Uttering a low curse—_raspberries—_I reached for the Ocarina of Time to put these anxious souls to rest.

And so I played the Sun's Song. Like the other songs I knew—Saria's Song, Zelda's Lullaby, and other such songs—this song held a strange power; but it was a power _un_like the other songs I knew. The power to relax the restless souls of those who had lived before, whose spirits were now spent and weary, the power to control a former king in his quest for peace—the power to grant him that wish.

At the last note, I drew the sacred instrument from my lips and cringed at the sickening shriek that followed. The rotten flesh of the two visitors from the tomb shrivelled further and slowly faded from a hideous brown to white as they were sealed by the song's mysterious power. But even had I wanted to, I lacked the time to marvel at the stunt; so upon the completion of the seal, I glanced around the room for something helpful.

And there it was!

"Look, Navi, to the right—there it is!" I made a frenzied point at what I saw. "I'm a good guesser! It's in here! It's in here!"

She responded sarcastically, "Yes, Link, I am not blind. I am also not deaf, although I fear if you keep up with this shouting, I might just _become_ deaf. And I don't suppose you're much of a guesser, either—just very, very lucky that the floor master chased you in here."

So much for appreciation.

I shrugged weakly. "Very well, I'm sorry for shouting. But there it is." And yes, there it was, _it_ being the blue-and-gold chest that contained that gaudy and overdecorated key I required to access my release from the Shadow Temple—the key to my freedom.

My steps there were unsteady, for I had begun to tremble at that prospect. Freedom—freedom to think, to breathe, to walk. Freedom—freedom from pain, from fear, from weariness. Freedom—freedom to wonder, to relax, to see.

To see. . . .

I knew that this experience would scar me forever, that nevermore would I be capable of walking with certainty that I wasn't going to make a tiny wrong move and wind up tumbling down into a pit of eternal darkness, that nevermore would I be able to go anywhere without the Lens of Truth to guide my steps.

And therefore I'd never be able to discard it. A thousand curses upon Ganondorf, the Shadow Temple, and my wretched _dependence!_

I allowed my hands to fall onto the surface of the chest and caress the surface of my freedom. To some it was just an ordinary box; but to_ me. . . . _No, to me it was so much more than a simple box! Kneeling down reverently to open it, a swell of emotion rose in my chest and I immediately forced it down. Then tenderly I reached for the latch, flipped it and slowly began to lift the lid of the blue chest.

Inside, on a royal blue velvet cushion, was the large gold key with a red gem embedded in it—the large, gold, overdecorated, overextravagant and gaudy key that I needed. Unable to suppress a grin, I reached down hesitantly, hardly daring to believe it when I felt the sensation of the key in my hands.

In my hands—like the fate of Hyrule. A gold key, a small silver key, a majestic land blessed by the Three Goddesses—essentially, how were they different, when they were placed in my hands?

Wonderingly I stared at the prize I had endeavoured so much for. So much effort for so small an object! It never ceased to amaze me how the littlest things could have such an impact on the world—a single wrong step and a life could be ended, a carelessly placed match and the entire Lost Woods could burn down. A beautiful threshold could guard a mere trinket, while a plain and indistinct doorway could house all the suffering of the world. Life was full of strange facts, oddities and paradoxes; perhaps someday I'd understand them. Perhaps.

Navi fluttered in front of my face. "Now that you've spent a good amount of time gawking at the key, perhaps we go back out and _use_ the key?"

I nodded slowly, slipping it into my quiver—which, I noticed uneasily, was running short of arrows—gently. "Forgive me, Navi. Surely you can spare me a moment to gaze incredulously at the item which shall lead me either to my quietus as Hyrule's Anointed Saviour or my freedom from this accursed place." Carelessly I threw a glance towards one of the still-sealed ReDeads. "You have one guess to choose which of those two options I'm hoping for."

"The former, definitely," she said nonchalantly and without hesitation.

Turning leisurely on my heel—for there was, for once, no need to rush—I strolled over to the door. "Yes, that's it, Navi." Then I sauntered casually through the door.

. . . into the waiting grasp of the floor master I'd left behind! By Farore, I was some smart stuff, wasn't I?

"Link!" Navi shouted alarmingly, "watch out!"

_Thank you, Ms. Obvious,_ a droll voice in my head murmured. I nodded and, lifting my shield wearily, I prepared for the staggering impact of the floor master that had stood patiently by the door for me to emerge. "Very well, Navi, I'm watching out . . . and where is the blasted thing anyway? I don't—"

_Smack!_

There it was.

I sidestepped rather clumsily and yanked my sword of the scabbard on my back with one rather jerky motion. My good monster-fighting mood had evaporated entirely after being yelled at by my own fairy, to my chagrin, and therefore my strength was failing me. Deciding this battle was one I didn't want to face, I held my shield towards the creature and started running. If it should catch up, I'd deal with it then. . . .

Then I smacked headfirst into a wall.

I didn't know it was a wall. When last I had looked, there hadn't been a wall there. When I opened my eyes, disoriented and annoyed as I was, I still didn't see a wall. But my now-bleeding forehead and aching limbs told me otherwise, and so I wondered for a moment before I recalled my discoveries earlier when I glanced through the Lens of Truth.

"Navi, why didn't you tell me there was a wall there?" I groaned as I stumbled away, adjusting my path and feeling in front of me for an opening. But she didn't answer me. So, irritably, I turned back to face the floor master. Though a challenge was the last thing my tired heart desired, a challenge was upon me, and I hadn't the ability to refuse.

Its already-vile skin began to glow an even viler green, which made my stomach turn over a few times before I raised my trusty shield to fend it off. Resentfully I watched it as it viciously prepared to assault me. "By the way, Navi, I've never had the chance to thank you for being so helpful on this quest." After a moment of powering up, it shot forward toward me. "You've just assisted me through every trial—" It bounced off my shield and I bounced back from the impact. "—and tribulation—" I stepped forward with my sword in hand. "—thus far, and I sincerely—" I lunged forward with the Master Sword. "—thank you for offering me so much—" The Sacred Sword sliced through the gruesome creature. "—needed knowledge when I ask for it—" Releasing an ugly scream, the floor master tore into a trio of smaller masters. "—like where that wall came from!" I proceeded to whip out my bow to finish off the remaining pieces of the floor master.

"You're welcome," Navi replied sweetly. "And if ever you need more information, don't hesitate to ask, dear hero."

"I'll keep that in mind," I muttered, chasing after the tedious rascals.

It wouldn't have taken me so long if I didn't crash into another wall in the process of killing them. This time I fell straight to the floor, my vision went fuzzy for a minute, and then I jumped up just before one of my targets leapt onto my throat and murdered me as I lay prostrate and defenceless on the ungodly floor of the Shadow Temple. Since they'd come running back to me after seeing me fall, I took them out without much more trouble or wasted time. But my temple was now bleeding and my limbs and chest ached from my rather less than graceful collision with the invisible wall, so I couldn't say that I'd come out of the battle unscathed. Somehow, though my enemies never even touched me, they had still managed to injure me, to throw me off my feet. Not even when I was the victor had I truly won.

With my senses spinning wildly, I leant against one of the invisible walls with my ears ringing and my vision still hazy. I shut my eyes for a moment to collect myself, but opened them frantically a second later when I thought I heard a clanging sound. I glanced round the room for the source of the perceived cacophony, but nothing seemed to have changed. I searched for another few seconds in vain, becoming more convinced with each second that I'd imagined it. My ears were still playing tricks on me, after all . . .

Then another crashing sound caught my attention, and I jumped. This time, however, my quick search revealed that I'd merely dropped my sword—and lying on the ground next to it was my hookshot. Of course. I must have dropped it earlier. Both sounds now explained, I leaned down to collect my tools.

Slowly, feeling blood rushing to my head, I stood up and fought to retain consciousness. With my heartbeat still pounding heavily in my ears, I scanned the room for the exit—and the remaining floor master, who had mysteriously disappeared—and noticed I had a slight dilemma. I knew that I'd entered this room through a doorway, but I hadn't realised that it was one of _three_ other doorways. Curses. My shoulders sagged with my misery. But there was minor cause to be happy; at least the floor master was nowhere to be found.

With a sigh, I began to speak. "All right, Navi, do you have any conscious recollection of which door I came in through? I know that this one was to my right, but—Navi? Navi, are you listening?"

At the ensuing silence, I whirled frantically.

The little blue fairy was nowhere to be seen.

How strange that when Navi was with me, my only thoughts were of how much I desired to exterminate her and release myself from her presence; and yet when she disappeared like this, without so much as a warning screech, I should be tearing out my hair with worry! Indeed, as I took an unsteady step forward, shouting her name with panic rising in my voice, my actions continually surprised me . . . I never imagined I'd completely lose my composure because my irritable but dependable guardian decided to vanish.

But then, love works in strange ways, doesn't it? I remember that after leaving the forest those years ago, I cried because I missed _Mido_ of all unlikely people. . . .

"Where are you, Navi?" I shrieked, looking around me in a hopeless attempt to find my fairy. "Confound it, you were here just a second ago! Where are you? Where'd you—"

Breaking off, I started to run back to the door to see if I'd left her in there, even though I was well aware that she had come out with me when I first left that room.

Bad choice.

Even as I hurried over, I had yet again forgotten to protect myself from the evils of the Shadow Temple with the Lens of Truth. It didn't matter at first; I ignored the bruises I'd obtained and kept on running. But naturally, Fate had other ideas for the truly pitiful excuse for a Hero of Time, and she'd employed my very own forgetfulness to work against me! (That dirty, traitorous wretch!) For as I ran at a frenzied pace towards the doorway, rendered very nearly blind without my precious Lens, I took one wrong step and—_smack!_

_Ouch._

My eyes underwent a brief struggle to stay open; then, at my body's insistence, they submitted to oblivion, and blackness overtook me.

_Peace. . . ._

--------------

Hey, where's Navi? I don't know! Now, review! I'll love you forever if you leave me a note! Link and Navi are some of the most fun characters to portray in the entire world, I swear. And, seeing as it is 1:55 AM, which means I've been awake for nineteen hours, I suppose I ought to finish a few things and try to head off to bed by 3. But anyway, please review! I'll . . . review your Ocarina of Time fics if you review mine! We can trade off!

By the way, did anyone notice that nifty little paragraph about the fic title? I'm rather proud of it. Now review!


	6. A Regular Fairy Boy

**IN MY HANDS**  
By Phantwo J Fou_  
(ooh, ahh... worship me) _

_Author's notes: Well, I really appreciate the reviews! Thank you, Hylian Aes Sadai, for your kind feedback. . . . I'm glad you've liked this so far! And you, Kota Magic, for your faithful reviews! All you guys keep me going! I love you! I love you all!_

**Chapter Six  
A Regular Fairy Boy**

_Well, this was certainly a spectacle to behold!_

_The Hyrule Castle throne room was empty, save for a small figure sitting on the throne. But the figure was indistinct and faded, barely visible in the dim light._

_Then the doors at the end of the hallway burst open, drowning the room with blinding light. Then the light dissipated as a crash sounded through the room, and a new figure appeared inside the doors. This figure was dark, tall, and bulky. It was logical to assume that this figure represented evil._

_The figure took a step forward, into the light from one of the windows. His fiery hair was set against olive skin, his dark eyes were narrowed and his lips curved upward in a sinister smile; on his forehead was a jewel. No, a flower. No, a jewel . . . a sun?_

_Sun, jewel, or flower, he was still Ganondorf Dragmire. The Gerudo king. The one male Gerudo of a century. The one male—who hardly deserved to be king of his nation, who deserved the spit of the Hero of Time in his face. Sacred spit should do damage to the one man who stood for all the darkness in the world, should it not?_

_The figure on the throne shifted, but it was still all but invisible. By no stray move did it betray its own identity, unlike the King of Evil, who stepped boldly forth to face the figure on the throne. Drawing his sword, the King shouted, "Princess Zelda!"_

_It was her voice that replied to his brash voice . . . but her words denied that. "Forgive me, King—she is not here."_

_Ganondorf took another daunting step toward the throne. "Forgive me, fool—but you are a liar." His voice dripped of mockery of her words. "And I suppose now that you are no longer the princess, I need not afford you that respect. Come, before I force you to!"_

_Again, she repeated to him, "I'm sorry, sir—but she is not here."_

_"You lie!" he shouted, sounding more serious this time. "She is here, and she will obey me! I hold the Triforce of Power in my hand, and she shall obey me or submit to its power instead!"_

_Suddenly a light flashed onto the throne, dousing the figure sitting upon it. Slowly the figure came into view as the light dimmed, and it spoke again._

_"I tell you the truth," said Sheik, "she is not here." Then he lifted a hand toward the door. "Now, go, sir, before I'm coerced into making you regret disobeying my words."_

_Ganondorf jumped back, terrified, and backed toward the door._

_He was not afraid of the form on the throne, though—Sheik was not exactly an imposing figure to Ganondorf, after all._

_No, it was the symbol of the Triforce that had suddenly appeared on the wall behind the the throne, with two of the golden triangles glowing—the bottom two pieces. Why would only two of them be lit up?_

_"I offer you one last chance," said Sheik, his voice resonating powerfully, almost divinely, throughout the room even though he'd uttered the words quite softly. And yet, strangely enough, his voice still was not . . . his. In her voice, he finished with his finger pointed at the door. "Leave, King of Evil, before the Light vanquishes you forever."_

_Ganondorf did not hesitate to comply._

_I suddenly had the most awkward notion that there was more to Sheik than met the eye. . . ._

I cried out to Sheik, but my voice was lost in the throne room and found in a chamber totally unfamiliar to me. Looking ahead, I searched for him, but the throne that had been before me moments before had disappeared, leaving nothing in its place. The golden Triforce emblem had disappeared as well, and all I saw was a plain stone wall.

_Calm, Hero,_ I berated myself. _Don't forget yourself because of a dream. _And it _was_ just a dream.

Then I began to wonder how I had come to be sleeping. . . .

My aching head and dried blood on my temple reminded me shortly as I sat up. Every joint in my body seemed to be sore, crying out—whether they were asking for more sleep or screaming out at me for staying in the same position for hours, I was uncertain.

Hours. How many had it been? What day was it . . . what time was it . . . how dark was it outside? How many days had I been in this temple, fighting for a cause I wasn't sure if I could trust, fighting a battle I didn't know if I could win? How many more was I destined to spend in here, running blindly, completely alone save for Navi?

Navi.

Never mind . . . I _was_ completely alone.

Gently rolling over—for I was now treating my muscles with care in the hopes that they'd serve me well through the rest of the temple—I tried to stand up without hurting myself at all. No such luck. Immediately when my feet hit the temple floor, all my muscles protested painfully and threatened to take revenge on me for abusing them at my precarious attempt to inch forward. For a moment I began to think I couldn't remember being in so much pain before, but then I quickly recalled a few experiences in past temples that made this awakening seem almost pleasant. Though I shuddered mentally at that recollection, my mind suddenly flooded with even more memories of times I'd awakened from a miserable sleep and found myself in sheer agony.

So perhaps this wasn't so terrible. My limbs seemed to draw strength at those memories, allowing me to step forward with more confidence. My left leg was still thoroughly asleep, but the tingling sensation had started to dissipate in my right, at least. But after a moment of testing my strength, I noticed the peculiar absence of a heavy weight on my shoulders and back. Curiously I took a gander around the room.

Ah, there they were. The Master Sword and my Hylian shield. However could I have forgotten the items which had protected me from a quite undesirable demise so often? The aura of the sword was absent as well, which I _really_ should have noticed upon waking. Although I didn't trust myself to run, the items were simply too important to leave unattended; therefore I wanted to hurry.

Kneeling down beside the Sacred Sword and the not-so-sacred shield reverently, I reached out for them with a shaking hand. First I held out my right and retrieved the shield; next I began to reach for the sword with my left hand.

Then I was rudely interrupted by a crash. With my hand still extended before me, groping for the sword, I was suddenly thrown forward as something smashed into my back unexpectedly.

I learned something today! Though many thought it impossible, Hylians _can_ fly! All it takes is an angry floor master, lots of open space, and an absent-minded Hero of Time, and _voila! _A Hylian is airborne!

As I launched forward, I really tried my hardest to enjoy the sights from the sky and not think about the impending impact awaiting me at the next hidden stone wall, but I only had about five seconds in the air to think about it. Then my flight was abruptly halted as my nose became quite well-acquainted with the nearest wall. Unfortunately, I had no handy utensils to peel my face from the invisible bricks, so my hands had to suffice.

Speaking of hands, the floor master sat on the—guess where?—floor, gloating about what it must have thought was its victory. But a flattened Hero is not a dead hero, and a flattened but not discouraged Hero of Time managed to successfully rip his face off while peeling his body off a wall to face his foe. Ah, well, I didn't need my face anyway, I decided; I'd come back for it later. With the rest of myself intact, I turned to glare at the enemy.

It was assuming assault position, contracting its fingers and emitting an odd whistle of sorts. The abhorrent fiend's even more abhorrent flesh began to glow olive green. I grimaced. Then I settled down patiently and waited like a good little boy for it to take a murderous leap at me.

The floor master wasted no time in that endeavour, and it promptly jumped, aimed about halfway through jumping, and attempted to flatten me again. I too promptly jumped, stepping to the side without ceremony, allowing the floor master to meet the same fate as I had suffered just seconds ago. Then I laughed as it fell to the ground with what sounded like a whimper. At least, I laughed until I started wondering exactly what the whimper had come _out _of. Floor masters had no mouths.

I hurried to retrieve my sword and shield, dashing back to where I'd been sitting before the floor master had attacked—back to where my tools awaited me. With one what I'd like to call 'fluid' motion, I reached down and snatched them both. Then with another so-called smooth but actually rather jerky movement, I twisted about, readying myself for the battle awaiting me.

My nose wrinkled in disgust. Beholding my challenger proved to be more of an effort than I'd remembered; floor masters were simply the living epitome of sheer hideousness. With a deep breath and a mental assurance that I wouldn't die of horror and disgust, I tested my feet in a step towards it. Then I stepped back, for it lunged.

Without hesitation, I too lunged and slashed at the monster, thrusting the Master Sword through its back as hard as I could. The jarring sensation of the blade cutting through the bones of its gaunt fingers almost had me gagging for a moment. However, when the floor master tore into mini masters, I really did start gagging. But I pushed it down and chased after the closest one, holding my sword in both hands.

"Come here, you worthless rodent!" I grumbled, diving at the creature with a grunt. Thankfully, I finished off this piece of the floor master quickly; my sword hit home and sliced it in two. There were still more, however, to my dismay; two more, racing away trying to protect their lives at full speed. It was all too likely that I could never catch up to them if I simply began running. I decided my bow would be the most useful for dealing with them. And, unlike my sword and shield, I'd actually kept _that_ with me after my not-so-intelligent run-in with the wall earlier.

Thrusting the Master Sword back into its scabbard, I yanked the bow off my back and pulled an arrow from the quiver, knocking it in my bow quickly and efficiently . . . eh . . . and taking aim. "Come on, little monster, step a little closer . . . I've got something for you . . . come on. . . ." _Thwak! _The bowstring shook violently, as did my arm, the arrow traveling at top speed through the air, sailing straight for the retreating pieces of the floor master.

_Squelch!_

_What a wonderful sound effect you floor masters make, _I thought sarcastically, my face twisting with disgust. _Simply beeeee-a-uuuutiful!_

The arrow ran through the tiny hand's finger and forced the beast to the floor with a groan. If it was not dead, it'd be immobile long enough for me to kill the other one and then come back to it. Without further delay, I scanned the area for the last piece and found it at another corner of the room, running frantically to get away from me. _Curse that dead hand! I swear, as soon as I'm within a mile of you, I'm going to murder you! Yes, you hear that? Murder you! Die!_

I am such a violent Hero of Time! Sometimes I wonder if Rauru knew how truly sadistic I was at heart before he told me who I was. . . .

Drawing an arrow from the quiver, I threw it onto the bowstring messily, then pulled back and aimed. Then I decided my aim was bad and stopped running long enough to perfect my shot. Only at that time did I release the arrow.

Curses! I _still_ missed!

Perhaps I'm a violent hero, but I am _not_ a stupid hero. At least, not a _completely_ stupid hero. The moment I noticed my arrow barely grazed the floor master, I followed its lead and began running like a madman toward it, determined to defeat it before it regenerated. Again I groped for an arrow and went through the mundane procedures required to launch it. This time, however, I kept up my frantic pace even as I aimed, for I was gaining on it and if I were close enough, it'd be nearly impossible to miss. _Closer . . . just a little closer. . . . That's it. . . ._

The arrow injured me as it initiated its flight, as I'd not had the foresight to release it safely and the bow shot back agressively when I took my hands off the arrow. In spite of the clumsiness of my shot, the scream of pain from my target was evidence enough that the mistake didn't matter. Sure enough, it dropped to the ground weakly, twitched for a moment, then went limp. A tiny pool of blood started to form beneath it, which made me turn away, repulsed.

The sudden silence was defeaning. I was the victor, yes, but I felt no sense of reassuring peace. Slowly I panned my gaze over the room, but I saw nothing else awaiting me. No, there was nothing left waiting for me—nothing good, nothing bad. Nothing dangerous, nothing safe. Nothing is very neutral; it's neither for you, nor against you. No matter what, it's simply—nothing. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes comforting . . . either way, it's still merely _nothing._ It never was anything, and it never will be anything. It always was and always will be nothing.

For some reason, I had the urge to laugh at that philosophical simplicity. . . . And then I thought of Navi, and the urge dissipated as quickly as it had come. Navi. Disappearing wretch! Why did she have to vanish on me? I simply wanted _out _of here. I did _not_ want to play find-the-fairy in the Shadow Temple. I wanted to play go-back-home-and-sleep-for-ten-hours. Oh, I just wanted to get _out!_

Where could she have gone? I was her charge, her duty, her responsibility, whose side she was never supposed to leave! I was her reason to live! Perhaps that was a life sentence she hadn't anticipated or desired when she received it, and perhaps I aggravated it beyond belief (as she implied so often), but it was still _her_ sentence. Therefore, if she still wished to honour the dearly beloved deity that had crafted her, she was to follow me and keep me out of trouble. As I recalled, however, her job description did not include abandoning her ward when he most needed her in the Shadow Temple! Besides, she didn't have anywhere to go! Even with wings and small size, she didn't know her way out of here; and even if she did, she couldn't go far. The two of us had no secret haven to retreat to. Even the Lost Woods was no longer a refuge, for either of us.

I suddenly felt very lonely. . . .

And cold. The chill hit me unexpectedly, like the pangs of emptiness that wrenched my heart in my chest mercilessly. For a moment the cold was terrifyingly intense, and I allowed myself to shiver. _Freezing in here—positively freezing. I think I could freeze down here. Wow, Link, you're observant! It's freezing—you might freeze! Wow, whoever would have thought? Aren't you just—_

I halted the thought and my shivering then, deciding I needed Navi to keep my sanity, or else my mind would assume her role for her and I'd become as nutty as a deku tree.

With a start I observed how dark it was. The only light in the room came from torches on the walls, torches that were too far away to offer any respite from the cold or much assistance in seeing. Why hadn't I noticed the dark before? Why hadn't I noticed the frigidity before? Why was it so biting, so abruptly?

Once I began to think about it, I remembered dimly that Navi always seemed to have a certain warmth about her, from her heated temper if for nothing else, that had dulled the cold and made it so much more tolerable on every venture we'd been on together. Perhaps that was the reason I had never noticed the bone-chilling air in this temple which entirely lacked the warming touch of sunlight. But now that comforting glow was gone.

For the first time since my summoning to the Deku Tree seven years ago, I felt completely alone . . . and I was cold.

The weight of my sword and shield seemed heavier than usual once I strapped them to my back. The burden that I carried on my shoulders, too, felt heavier. My heart beat heavily in my chest; it also felt heavy. I sighed, heavily, wearily, tiredly, and shuffled forward a foot or two. But by then, the truths I'd been trying to hide had proven inescapable—without Navi, I was useless. A completely useless, inefficient hero detached from his lifeline. Navi, a lifeline . . . what an absolutely ridiculous idea! I swear, had I not been in this situation, I would have scoffed at the idea. _Would_ have. Then, when this actually happened to me, I would have sorely regretted it.

"Navi," I sighed unhappily, "where are you?" There was no offered response—not that I had expected one—but I continued blathering on in spite of that. "I need you. If I appeal to your insatiable vanity, will you show yourself? Please? I'll beg. I'll get on my knees and say you're the best fairy I ever had! I'll . . . I'll talk to myself! See, Navi, you're driving me into acting like a fool! If that doesn't work, then what am I supposed to do? You can't open doors! Where did you go? _Where in Farore's name did you go?"_

I missed her. No need to lie to myself anymore. I, the self-sufficient and omnipotent Saviour of Hyrule, missed a fairy.

Pathetic.

Turning around sluggishly, I paused to close my eyes—and discovered with shock that they were stinging with tears. _Yes, yes, Link, that's it! Cry because you're missing your fairy! You know, there was a reason Mido used to mock you. Oh yes, a very good reason. So please, shed a few tears and prove to the world what a weakling you are! Prove it!_

I decided that crying could wait until after I was finished here. I blinked back the wetness in my eyes and began to trod steadily to the closest door, reaching for the Lens of Truth so I would not have any more unpleasant encounters with walls. The effort required to use the mystical Lens was more draining than usual right now . . . the sensation of being sapped of my magical abilities was more acute and more intolerable than it should have been. The relief that hit me when my hand was around the knob of the nearest door and I could lower the Lens, too, was more acute than it should have been, but in this case, I didn't mind.

Thank Farore, this was the proper door!—that rhymes! Ahead, to the left, lay the sea of misty emptiness, and to the right, strewn across another black pit, lay the bridge crafted by the pillar whose foundation had been blasted hours earlier. Again I was overwhelmed with relief as I crossed over the threshold—relief that I hadn't walked into the wrong chamber and been strangled by another angry floor master. And I almost surely _would_ have been murdered had I been encountered with that, since I simply felt too weakened to fight anymore.

The final key was now in my possession. It was in my power to be released from the miserable hell known as the Shadow Temple. I held the key to freedom . . . but I was not using it. Not yet.

All because Navi was missing.

"Curse you, Navi," I mumbled under my breath, slowly running toward the bridge. "A thousand curses upon you!"

I was in no hurry to cross the vast expanse of darkness, even though at the other side of it were the doors that would lead me to the temple's keeper—the keeper of my freedom. I'm not sure I had the energy required to run across, and even if I did, my coordination probably would have failed me and I'd have tumbled off into the nothingness below. So, instead of running or even briskly walking, I took my pretty time and sauntered over. In fact I did everything I could to drag out my trip. But alas, all good things must come to an end, and the other side of the bridge was upon me far before I expected it. Exhaling sadly, I stepped onto the other side of the bridge.

No horrible fate had befallen me yet. . . . I supposed vaguely that that might be a good omen.

Dejectedly I walked nearer and nearer to the door. Although I knew that I was certainly too fatigued to do battle with the master of this domain, for some unexplained reason I could not bring myself to stop approaching its chamber. Inexorably I pressed onward, refusing to stop—even though I wanted to—but stubbornly refusing to move faster. My steps were slow and heavy, but they were consistent and continuous. I did not speed up, nor did I slow down; I did not want to go . . . nor did I want to stop.

_You make so much sense, Link. And don't you have it all? Not only are you a stupid and incompetent hero, you are also a completely incomprehensible hero. Congratulations, Sir Hero!_

Again I spoke to my absent fairy. "Navi, if you don't show up soon, my mind is going to take on your role and I'm going to go raving mad. I'm starting to sound like you. And that's not a good thing. Oh, Navi, why'd you have to do this to me? And why am I talking to you, if you're nowhere to be seen? Why am I such a fool?"

Mentally berating myself, I wondered why I kept talking to her as if she were there, while asking why she _wasn't_ there. Yes, a completely incomprehensible hero indeed! It seems to me that I have acquired an unhealthy taste for paradox.

Then it hit me, both literally and figuratively. Since I was lost in thought, I managed to smash facefirst into a door; then it dawned upon me what this door was . . . that beyond this door, there was only _one_ more.

One more door. One more, chained and locked with the slightly malformed, definitely oversized gold padlock that would yield only to the ostentatious gold key in my quiver. Once I crossed _that_ threshold, I had crossed into what was either my success or my undoing—the final battle before I awakened the Sage of Shadow and got _out!_

_Awaken the Sage of Shadow? But isn't she already . . . awake? _After all, Sheik had told me that Impa was the Sage of Shadow. And he would know; he was, after all, her nephew. . . . Wasn't he?

With one hand I opened the door, all the while surmising about the dream I'd had earlier, in which Sheik sat upon the throne of Hyrule and spoke with the voice of the Princess. That had been an odd dream for sure. How could it possibly be significant? If there even was a meaning to that dream, it probably was _not_ that Sheik would wrest the crown away from Zelda and somehow become female! But the dream left no other clues pertaining to its meaning—other than that Sheik would triumph over Ganondorf by . . . the Triforce. Sheik was one of the ringleaders in the war against Ganondorf, and I knew that eventually, with the Six Sages' and my help, we would be victorious. That was no surprise. But the Triforce? To my recollection, Ganondorf had taken the Triforce when I'd opened the Door of Time seven years ago, and Sheik hadn't stolen _that_ away from him. But the Triforce emblem had been missing one piece in the dream—only two of them were illuminated. The top piece was merely a faded gold outline. _Why on earth was that?_ I thought, glancing across the room when I noticed something that made me grimace.

_Raspberries!_

There was the lock, across a considerable distance of emptiness—a distance long enough to prevent a jump. I could also see nothing that would be a reliable target for my hookshot. Suddenly realisation washed over me, and it left me drenched with intense dread—the Lens of Truth would have to come into play again. I took a moment to curse madly and kick the wall. Only afterwards did I collect myself and pull out the magical magnifying glass.

Before me a series of stone platforms materialised, but that didn't make me feel much better. They were narrow and far enough away to require a long jump, a jump onto a platform I didn't know if I could steadily land on, a jump onto a surface I didn't know if I could trust to hold me. I took a deep breath and analysed the structures to determine the quickest, safest path. I made a quick judgement and then jumped onto the nearest platform.

When I did not feel the platform beneath me, I couldn't help it; I panicked.

But the soft sound my boots emitted as they finally stopped being capable of supporting me in the air managed to effectively keep my heartbeat within a reasonable speed. My reasonable, rational side began to quarrel with my illogical and thoughtful side, saying that I should have known better than to fear the end when I was donning hover boots! I fell the short distance to the surface, bracing myself for the landing, and smiled at the sensation of the ground underneath my feet. My heart swelled with a sudden confidence; a mistake did _not_ mean the end! My boots would sustain me long enough to find my way back to the safety of a platform. Abruptly all my feelings of apprehension abandoned me and left a sense of peace.

_Peace. . . ._

It did not take me long to finish crossing the room. A smile had begun to form across my face before I'd even reached the other side, but once my feet touched the floor, it broadened until it nearly spread from ear to ear. Here at last. _At last!_ I drew the key and placed it in the lock, hardly daring to believe that I honestly was here, at last.

I twisted the key and felt the lock jar a little as it opened. The chains fell limp when the lock that had been holding them taut was undone, and within seconds the entire lock structure was reduced to a worthless heap at my feet. I gave it a kick to throw it out of the way and opened the door.

The first thing that caught my attention was an all-too-familiar blue glow atop some sort of raised platform in front of me. In shock I stumbled forward in disbelief. Then I broke into a clumsy but astonishingly fast run toward the structure.

I jumped up and barely touched the sides of the five-foot-high . . . _thing_ . . . as I hoisted myself up and dashed toward what I had seen.

"Navi!" I screamed, laughing like a fool and racing toward her like a madman . . . but I didn't care. It had been too long, in too much dark, with too much solitude. "Navi!"

"Link!" she screamed back, proving that my eyes weren't deceiving me. "There you are!"

"Navi," I panted, coming to a screeching halt in front of her, "I swear, I am so sorry for all the stupid things I've said and done, and I am never letting you out of my sight for even a _moment_ after this! I—"

_Boooooooooooooong!_

The ground beneath me started to quake without warning, throwing me off my feet and to the rumbling floor violently. The deafening roar of what sounded like a drum echoed dimly in my ears, but I was simply too disoriented to tell. However, Navi's voice was clear as daylight now, after a few hours of not hearing it. As I opened my eyes, I heard her cry:

"Link, behind you—oh, in the name of Din and all her divine fire, Link, _turn around!"_

------------------------------------

No! The rain is drying up! No! Evil sun! Go back behind the clouds! Eeeeeevil sun! Grr! Anyway, now that I'm done whining about the rain drying up, I'm going to comment on my chapter. So how did you all like it? It's really long! Most of my chapters are about three to six pages, but this one was at least nine in 12-point Garamond! A whole five thousand words! I'm shocked!

Oh yes, and after initially posting this on the 15th, I went back over it and noticed a few sloppy sentences and a few typos! Considering the past few chapters are pretty much error-free, I was stunned at my clumsiness! Now I've gone back and fixed all the ones I could find, but if you noticed any, leave a review and tell me so I can go back and fix it.

Sorry I took so long with this one, but as mentioned earlier, it was longer than the others. I took about a week writing this and a week taking a break and thinking about it; I'm sorry for the delay. Of course, I was reading Alex Foster's truly wonderful masterpieces _Darkness Rising _and _Path of Sins_ in the time being as well, so no one can blame me for taking a while! Now, it's your duty as a reader to let me know what you thought of this chapter. Leave a review and tell me if you liked it or hated it and how I can make it better! I do read my reviews and appreciate them, so any comments are welcome. I also take seriously any and all criticism, so if there's something that you think could be improved with feedback, let me know! I might start crying if it's harsh, but I'll try to do my best to pay attention to it and remedy the problem. So, with that in mind, **it's time for you to write a review! **Thanks!


	7. Navi, Welcome to Hell!

**IN MY HANDS  
**By the Last of the Super Rad Elite, Phantwo J Fou 

_A/N: Did you all see the last chapter? If you didn't, go back and read it before you read this one! Thanks to LauraCeleste heartily for her review! And if you all have the time, _definitely_ check out her fics. They are simply top notch and some of the best on this site! If you want good Zelda fiction, she's the place to start! So read one of her stories after reading and **REVIEWING** this chapter! Thanks!_

**Chapter Seven  
Navi, Welcome to Hell**

I turned around.

"By Farore! In the name of all the Great Fairies in Hyrule! _Raspberries!"_ I spat in response to the vision that I was . . . privileged . . . to behold. "Good heavens, those hands are bigger than floor masters!" That name again! _Curses!_ "What _is_ it?"

Navi zipped past me, leaving a trail of pale blue light in her wake, hurrying to view the pair of hands floating above the structure underneath us. Those hands, at least ten feet over my head, with fat fingers about twice as long as I was tall, took my breath away in mingled shock and revulsion. Each hand was coloured a stunningly loathsome shade of beige and caked thoroughly with mud and some unidentifiable substances, and they apparently were not attached to any kind of body. Instead they waved in the air wildly and violently without a proper target. Therefore, their swings were messy and misdirected—if they were attempting to plow me, they failed miserably. I took a step back and shuddered uncontrollably at the spectacle for a moment before I regained the reins to my own body.

Seconds later, Navi was again hovering over my shoulder. This time, however, she was visibly trembling, which disturbed me greatly, since my guardian fairy rarely trembles. She then spoke to ease my fraying nerves, but her words offered very little relief. "Um, Link, I'm loath to say this, but . . . I've some bad news."

"Bad news, eh? And what might that be?" _Not that I necessarily want to hear it. . . ._

She seemed to draw in a deep breath and hesitated. Her high-pitched voice wavered as she began to explain a few seconds later. "You see, Link, the Deku Tree used to tell the fairies stories about some evil monsters that guarded the temples of the Sages. A sort of fairy bedtime story, you might say. He mentioned the master of the Temple of Shadow, a particularly evil creature that was banished from the temple years ago but made a suspicious return shortly after Ganondorf appeared. They called him Bongo Bongo, and he played—"

I politely jumped backward as one of the monstrous floating hands took a swing at me.

"—he played the drum, you see, and he was a vicious fighter. He used to pick up his victims in his two giant hands and strangle them before smashing them into his drum. The stories tell of his drum being stained with the ruin of those unfortunates. And. . . ."

". . . and what?"

She tried her best to sound cheerful. "And I think that this monster you're currently dodging with so much agility is this Bongo Bongo."

Repressing an urge to explode with mirth at the creature's name but still entirely disappointed with this piece of news, I whimpered. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Sorry, but—"

I interrupted her fiercely, "Navi, I have a wonderful sense of humour. I could really appreciate a joke like that."

"My sincerest apologies, Sir Hero. Now, for the little bit of good news, this creature is _supposed_ to have a quite vulnerable body. Suppose you look at him through the Lens of Truth? I'd wager you'd see it then."

_That's the good news?_ I reached for the Lens submissively. "I suppose I could try that. By the way, did the Great Deku Tree name this chap, or did he name himself?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. Why?"

"That's even worse than _floor master,_ Navi! I would have quite a difficult time believing that the omniscient deity of the Kokiri would come up with a ridiculous name like that." Placing the Lens of Truth in front of my eyes, I suddenly stumbled, caught off guard and utterly surprised at the latest revelation. _"Good heavens! _ Navi, do you see that?" 

The host of the set of hands now revealed, I took a moment to admire its awe-inspiring hideousness—an incredibly large eye embedded into a body of unrecognisable shape. Its hands were not directly attached to it, but they hovered close enough to it to reveal the connection. But Navi had told me that the body was supposed to be quite vulnerable, and nothing I saw appeared vulnerable in the slightest. I didn't hesitate to inform Navi of this minor detail.

I daresay she was not too pleased with my unintelligence. "Link, use your senses!" she fumed, her long-absent glow flickering in irritation. "You've uncovered the keys to every single locked door in the vicinity, made a bridge out of an oversized statue using simply some bomb flowers and an arrow, defeated a shadow version of yourself in that horrid temple in Lake Hylia and you can't see anything _vulnerable?"_

"You recognise my accomplishments," I replied thoughtfully. "That's good to know."

"You've also," she added sharply, "done your share of astonishingly stupid feats, if I may begin to list those for you as well. . . ."

My shoulders heaved with a sigh. "Ah, well. No one is per—"

A resounding crack that could have been the sound of a gigantic hand slamming into me—or it could have been my spine snapping—promptly echoed round the room without warning, and I was thrown forward at the impact. Again I disproved the theory of gravity as I sailed effortlessly, not to mention listlessly, through the air towards the edge of what I observed distantly appeared to be a drum. So we had been standing upon a drum, had we? Then yes, this was the mysterious Bongo Bongo indeed.

I fell onto my back lifelessly on the floor to the side of the incredible drum, with my ears ringing and my limbs in tremendous pain. _ That really hurt._

"—fect," I finished in the strongest voice I could muster.

As Navi is to be my sympathetic companion that feels my pain, naturally she broke into laughter so intense she couldn't fly steadily. I stood up rather weakly and took a wavering step forward. _What horrible mirth!_ thought I indignantly, pointedly glaring at my fairy with as malevolent a leer as Ganondorf. One of my hands instinctively went to my back in an attempt to soothe the pain that still burned at the point of impact.

Navi continued to giggle even as I climbed back into the drum, which was vibrating violently from another one of Bongo Bongo's—for as long as I live, I shall continue to loathe the _names_ these strange Hylians create!—powerful strikes. Although I stared at her and attempted to look malicious, she didn't stop, not even when she spoke. "_That,_ my dear Sir Hero, was on your stupid list."

I did not reply and instead opted to search for my bow, which I had dropped upon being slapped by the Shadow Beast's hand. Navi apparently thought she'd won the battle at my silence, for she laughed harder. Patiently I sighed and started running with as much stability as I could manage on the trembling drum head toward the weapon I spotted on the far side—of course—of the drum.

Once it rested in my hands with my fingers closed around it, I allowed a new, pernicious grin to form on my lips. The fairy remained immersed in her merriment; therefore my confidence remained intact. I knocked an arrow on the bowstring, released a chuckle of my own, turned quickly and let fly the arrow.

It grazed right past Navi, disproving any theory she might have entertained that I lacked talent in the field of archery and effectively silencing her laughter. Instead, she let ring another discordant sound and screeched, "Link! You rotten son of a Hylian! What was that for, you worthless fool?"

"It offends me greatly,"__ I told her gently with mock injury, hurrying to retrieve the arrow from whence it had lodged itself, "that you would call me a son of a Hylian. . . ."

She made another arrogant and disdainful shriek but offered no snappy response. I detached the arrow from the drum head and executed a quick and smooth spin to see the foe I had been so brazenly ignoring. Then I remembered that I needed the Lens of Truth in order to behold its full hideousness.

After remedying that problem shortly, I took the arrow and knocked it back into the bow, deciding to aim for the creature's eye. "Navi, I think I shall shoot his eye. I'll find his weakness later, I think. After all, I believe he'd be so much less harmful if he can't see me. . . ."

"Well, thank you, Captain Obvious!" she retorted curtly.

I let go of the butt of the arrow and glared at her with disgust. But the comeback on my tongue refused to come, for the sound of pain the fiend emitted from behind me startled both of us. I turned back and stumbled forward, curiosity giving way to triumph. The beast fell from the air to the drum and lay motionless. Upon its impact, the turf beneath me shuddered and throbbed.

"By Farore . . ." I started to say, then realised that I was simply wasting time by talking. Without further delay, I reached for the Master Sword and dashed over, thrusting the sacred blade into the slightly reddened eye.

Tremulously I stepped back—_with_ the sword, thankfully—when the monster shook viciously and writhed in agony. Its great mass twitched and convulsed, then gave up its effort listlessly and fell, prostrate and unmoving. Again I slashed at its eye and jumped away; but this time, it did not even quiver for a moment.

Had I killed the master of the Shadow Temple, just like that . . . ?

Somehow I doubted the legendary Bongo Bongo was so weak, and the uneasiness building up inside my chest did not dissipate in the slightest even after almost a minute of stillness. Even Navi, whose sixth sense for danger was—to make the understatement of the century—a little weak, seemed to sense it, silently floating above the tremendous drum with a soft glow, signifying that she was nervous. I shared her anxiety.

I took a shaky step backward, drawing in a deep breath, when it happened.

One of the monstrous hands snapped up so fast that I didn't notice until it came crashing down and threw me off my feet. Within the next ten seconds, it sprang back into action and hurled itself at me. I didn't even have time to duck before it struck me head-on and launched me toward the opposite edge.

_"Link!"_ Navi shouted—at least, I believe that's what she shouted. My hearing was so dulled at that particular moment that I couldn't tell, as my ears were ringing and I could hardly concentrate on anything but the excruciating sensation. I landed on the other side, barely short of falling off the edge. The weakness that plagued me was so much more cutting, so much more fervid than I had expected it to be. Would I have died, I wondered, if I had actually tumbled over? Before I wouldn't have even considered that merely two blows from even Bongo Bongo could break the Hero of Time, but now I was forced to think about it as I lay on my back, completely defenceless.

I attempted to lift my left arm, but the pain pinned it to the floor. I realised that I couldn't even move with what _would_ have been a start, if only I could manage to quiver. Then a deep and overbearing fear began to overtake me.

Again . . . I was useless. Plastered there on Bongo Bongo's massive drum, helpless and unable to even stand up, I became fully and totally useless. And presently, because of my uselessness, without even a chance to defend myself, I would be executed. 

By a monster with a name as laughable as _Bongo Bongo._

If I had had the strength, I might have laughed at my pitiful plight . . . then I would have started to cry at my exquisitely wretched failure.

The only part of me that remained functional was my voice, and I mumbled, "Navi, when I die, would you please tell Sheik that I had a dream that he was a girl?"

------------------------------

_So, the ending was a little strange. I was going to continue, but I decided that that line lost all effectiveness if there was more after it. Heh. But rest assured that the next chapter should come faster than this one did. I'm sorry it took me a while, and I apologise for it being short. __Oh yes, and if you recall my complaints at the rain leaving at the last note in the last chapter, you can stop feeling sad for me now. It's RAINING AGAIN! And it's supposed to rain until SATURDAY! I'm a happy Phantwo! :)_

_Anyway, I wanted to repay my readers for blessing me with their reviews (which, might I add, is splendid advice for any new readers!). Most of the Zelda authors who have reviewed this story have excellent fics on their sides, and so while you wait for the next installment of _In My Hands,_ content yourself with some of their fiction. Hylian Aes Sadai has a fantastic angsty Zelda fic entitled "A Ray of Hope" that, although a bit short, is definitely worth reading. And for fans of Super Smash Brothers (and Zelda) and romance, her work in (hopefully) progress, _This is No Game_ is also a worthy read. I've already recommended Kota Magic's fic "Still Just a Little Boy," but it's a good read as well. She's also working on a new OOT fic, _Spirits of Chaos,_ if you'd care to read and review that for her. __Lastly, as mentioned in the first note, I would definitely recommend LauraCeleste's fics, including the Affair Trilogy and "Quill and Ink" (which is unfortunately on hiatus, but a good read anyway). So, till the next chapter, then!_

_...this note was almost longer than the story. Wow. Now, if you would, please **REVIEW!** _


	8. What I Do to Monsters with Stupid Names

**IN MY HANDS  
**By Phantwo J Fou

_A/N: AHHHH!!! THE RAIN IS GONE AGAIN!!!! (Revision, 15 Mar: It's back. I'm happy.) Yes, anyway, onto matters of the story. . . . Um, I'm sorry if the ending note was a little misleading to anyone, since I got a few reviews telling me this story had wonderful ending effectiveness and I should write another. However, I'm not done with this one yet! I can't kill Link; he's the one narrating, after all! Besides, I'm hopelessly in love with him. I guess I can't kill him anyway._

**Chapter Eight  
What I Do to Monsters with Stupid Names**

Navi was simply too stubborn to permit me to die as peacefully as I could when I was paralysed with intolerable pain. I hated that fairy.

Yes, there I lay, ready to die a completely ignoble and cowardly death—seeing as I had no other choice—at the hands (and what hands they were!) of Bongo Bongo. And even as I would have lain, dying that ignoble and cowardly demise, I would have enjoyed the respite from my journey, from my misery, from the Shadow Temple of Death and Despair. But, no, dear Navi refused to allow me to drop off into that eternal sleep, and instead pulled my hair and tickled my nose until I sneezed.

Somehow that sneeze restored my mobility. Momentarily I was on my feet once more, prepared to fight this beast in all my weakness. And I _did_ feel indeed quite drained. However, being the stubborn fool I have always been, I decided to continue the battle with the fiend with the name I absolutely shall _not_ write down again. So, even though my legs argued with my decision heartily, I stepped out and tried to look menacing. Of course, my face had become purple with bruises by that point and blood ran freely from my nose and lips from where I'd been very nearly crushed underneath Bongo Bongo's hands, but I still tried my very hardest to be an imposing foe.

Bongo Bongo was very obviously quite threatened and offended by this gesture, for in response, he lifted one powerful hand and flicked me off the drum like a speck of dust. And I flew like a speck of dust, too, straight off the drum and onto the ground. Thank the goddesses I managed to turn around and land on my feet and my boots absorbed the shock of the fall. Otherwise, I don't like to think about what _could_ have happened if I'd . . . but all unpleasant thoughts aside. Hurriedly I climbed back onto the drum and worked to stand with the clumsy appendages that most people call legs.

But my knees refused to cooperate, and momentarily I found myself on my back again. My lips opened to release a curse, but the curse caught in my throat when I opened my eyes and saw the monstrous hand passing just _inches_ over my head—where I _would_ have been, had I still been standing. I felt the rush of air as it passed over me, so close to my face that I very nearly screamed. But I felt only air. Holding my breath for a moment in disbelief that I had so unwittingly and unintentionally cheated Death, I felt around for my bow.

Since I have at least a faint shred of intelligence in my hero's head, it did not take me a long time to figure out that I didn't have it with me.

Apparently I don't have the best grip on things, for this was the second time I'd dropped the bow—for the same reason, in nearly the same place. For a brief moment I pondered the idea of tying it to my hands, but I decided against it and ran to pick it up. Thank heavens Bongo Bongo didn't notice that I was on my feet and not on the ground! If he had, I have no doubt that he would have prevented me from ever reaching my last useful weapon or drawing my last useful breath—and this record would certainly not exist.

I placed my hands around the bow firmly, planting a haughty but uneasy simper on my face, and then reached for an arrow to blind my nemesis sufficiently. That is to say, I reached—and reached, and reached, and . . . reached. And reached.

I never did find the arrow I sought; I suppose I didn't have any more left to use.

And so, as any sane hero would do, I panicked.

How could I have exhausted my arrow supply without noticing? Certainly I should have perceived, upon pulling my last arrow, that there were no more to draw—but then, I reflected, I could not have claimed that I was in a sound state of mind when I had drawn it. And yet still it paralysed me with shock—a sudden revelation . . . that I had already known. Such things could only be possible in this terrifying darkness.

Darkness again.

How often I had blundered here, how often I had entangled myself in my own snares in here . . . all because of a little darkness!

And suddenly, I understood—so suddenly that I wondered why I'd never understood before.

The darkness, the abyss, the mist, the hidden monsters and walls—these were merely tools, merely _devices _used to scare any visitor brave enough to enter into running away. But they did no lasting damage to the courageous ones who were not hindered by grotesque imagery. Wounds would heal; blood would clot; scars would fade and eventually disappear. No physical torment is eternal—and whoever designed the Shadow Temple _knew that._ No, the very real terror of the Shadow Temple was simply in one's mind . . . the aforementioned displays only served to worsen that mental anguish. The inability to see and the knowledge that a wrong step could mean the end twisted the traveler's perception of reality beyond recognition.

The rest was left to imagination. One's eyes were never trustworthy, and after a time, so the Lens of Truth became dubious. The temple sights lost all effect after a time, for at least they could be _seen._ No, an hour was all that was needed for any traveler to abandon the fear of icons. It became what he _inferred_ to be in the darkness that frightened and confused the strongest of men. Questions that would remain unanswered for eternity plagued me each time I looked into that darkness. Even if I were to escape alive and well, with barely a scratch, I would remain scarred for life. . . .

Peering through the darkness of the temple and the haze of the burning pain that still coursed through my body, I began to ponder how, with my lack of arrows in mind, to deliver justice to the creature with the most laughable title in Hyrule's history. Throwing the Master Sword would avail me nothing; I couldn't throw bombs that far and would likely blow my hands off in the process; and it was out of range for a Deku nut. Curses be upon curses! In disgust I cast the bow down and thrust the quiver from my back.

The quiver did not agree with being tossed so ungracefully, however. It landed on the currently-still drum head with a vexing _clonk_ and spat out a trail of my paraphernilia that I had shoved in there—including the Ocarina of Time! In a frenzy I dove to rescue all of my valuables, grabbing first the Ocarina and securing that before hunting for any others.

Lying on my stomach and reaching for my lost possessions, my searching fingers caught a small bag and I glanced back to the quiver to toss it in. But the rattle of small seeds inside the leather pouch stopped me from throwing it. Inquisitively I trained my eyes back on the pouch for a moment; then I trained them on an object barely protruding from the edge of the quiver.

_It could work,_ said Link the Hero. _A bit risky, of course—but it shall work! _

_Impossible,_ argued Link the Realist. _You are much too old for that kind of nonsense. Forget this foolishness and accept defeat._

_Or am I? _said Link the Hero, also known as Link the Optimist (and Link the Fool). _How old am I, really?_

_Stupid child,_ chided Link the Realist. _You're quite obviously—_

_Seventeen? _Link the Hero interrupted. _Oh, yes. So any man can observe. Seventeen! But am I really? Maybe I look it . . . but I am still but ten!_

And Link the Realist retorted. . . .

Actually, Link the Realist had no answer, for Link the Realist understood Link the Hero—for once. Link the Hero took advantage of his silence to ensure that he had no answer, for he wasted no time in grabbing his slingshot and pouch of Deku seeds and leaping to his feet to ward off the evils of the Shadow Temple.

The renewed determination to win the battle strengthened me wholly, and my pain began to fade as enthusiasm slowly took control of my body. Of course! Perhaps it would be a mite challenging to work a slingshot at my age, but it was entirely preferable to running around like a crazed and raving Tektite, simply waiting to die and counting my remaining time in seconds. With a little difficulty I strapped the bullet bag to my belt and reached for a seed.

"Link," said Navi, startling me into dropping my seed, "if I may ask, what in the name of the goddesses are you _doing?"_

Bending down and retrieving the seed, I replaced it in the band of the slingshot. "Only saving myself, Navi." I proceeded to take aim with full intentions of blinding my victim, and, drawing a breath and hoping for the best, I released the string.

A tiny projectile sprang out from between the points of the stick I clutched in my hand, which flew a rather unspectacular flight straight into the eye of a rather unspectacular but hatefully powerful entity with two very large, very ugly hands. In response, that unspectacular entity dropped its guard (as well as its body) and raised its hands. Deku seeds proved to be quite the eye irritant, for those very large, very ugly hands reached up to rub at its eye quite violently even as the drum shook beneath it. For a moment I faltered: disbelief that such a small object managed to evoke such a response slowed the hand resting on the hilt of the Master Sword. Then I freed it of its scabbard and rebuked myself for possibly wasting a good opportunity to attack, running to the occupied Shadow Beast with confidence I liked to pretend was unwavering. I often failed at pretending.

Navi trailed behind me with an astonishing slowness, but for all the thought I gave that matter at that moment, she could have been Princess Zelda and I would have taken no more heed. My first and foremost thought remained _Death to the monster._ My first action, upon reaching that monster, was to swing my sacred sword wildly at the beast's right hand, with a lack of grace that surely put the sword to shame.

I drew a breath and held the sword over my head for exactly two seconds and fourteen milliseconds. Releasing that breath, I lashed out with a staggering force and slammed the blade into one of Bongo Bongo's busied hands. I wasted no time in tearing the sword out of his punctured flesh and getting out of his way when he ripped his hand from his eye and twisted it back in an attempt to cast me off. But the damage had been done. His filthy right hand was injured, and I was to blame.

I grinned at the thought.

Stepping back, I reached for the slingshot that I had apparently strapped in my belt (which was strange, for I had absolutely no recollection of putting it there) and jammed my hand into my seed bag to fish for a bullet. As I fitted the bullet into the bed of the slingshot, I watched Bongo Bongo writhe in agony and whispered sadistically, "Oh yes, that hurt, didn't it? I'll wager it did!" That said, I promptly let loose another bullet. And I smiled.

The seed met its intended target, bringing him to his knees once again—supposing he had knees. With the smile still broad on my face, I rushed forward with my sword tightly clutched in my left hand, aiming to cripple his left hand as quickly as I'd taken care of the right one. And since the stupid creature was sitting on the head of the drum and rubbing at its eye frantically as if his very life depended on it, little doubt existed in my heart that it would be much more of an effort.

As if his very life depended on it . . . I almost stopped to ponder that. Perhaps it did.

Making a mental note to test that theory as soon as I delivered a deathblow to his left hand, I swooped forward and struck out with all the power I could muster. The beast also struck out, but the being his pierced palms sought had jumped out of the way after removing his sword from the hole that the being had created. Since I was that being, I'd made sure I was a good distance away after driving my sword into the monster. Bongo Bongo rather pitifully flopped his hands about for a minute or two, trying to play his drum, trying to lift his now-useless appendages; but eventually he gave up the fight and turned to me, and then . . . 

And then he disappeared.

That isn't to say he vanished; that is to say that I collapsed under the strain of my own depleted magic power. I dropped the Lens of Truth from my right hand and fell to my knees rather suddenly. I heard, faintly, my own ragged and highly audible breathing as I trembled. What a fool I was! Did I not remember how much energy it took to draw the magic to use the Lens of Truth? Nay, I had not remembered . . . and here was I, paying the price for forgetting!

Dragging myself on all fours, I sought refuge from Bongo Bongo's anger and regretted provoking it. And now that I had Navi back, I didn't need to imagine her reproach.

"Link!" she shouted, her obvious irritation blending with also-obvious fear as she scolded me. "Get up, you nitwit! You're not going to defeat Bongo Bongo by pulling yourself along like a disabled snail! You're going to die, _Hero,_ unless you do something about it—"

"I know," I interrupted weakly.

"Then _do something!"_

I hobbled to the edge of the drum and dropped down off the side, murmuring, "Very well." With a _clonk_ I landed, and with a strangled oath I mourned the unexpected pain that burned where my head had struck something hard and sharp. I reached back to remove the object from the back of my skull, continuing to mumble truly unheroic phrases in nearly-silent breaths, and clutched something long and wooden in the palm of my hand.

Surprise overtook annoyance. Something long and wooden? How very peculiar . . . I drew it forward. And lo! The Hero shrieked with delight, for there, in my hand, was an arrow!

"Thank you, Nayru! Thank you, Din! Thank you, Farore! I love you all!" I screamed joyfully, shaking with happiness so intense that I had previously considered that kind of pleasure unattainable by human beings.

Navi swooped down and dropped a stone on my head for my wild behaviour, but I was far too thrilled to care. The blood on the nape of my neck from where my head had been impaled on the tip of my arrow failed to alert me. Ganondorf could have killed Princess Zelda and destroyed Lon Lon Ranch and I would still be purely mad with elation.

And I would have remained thoroughly drained of magic. The Lens of Truth, that hateful instrument, being the bloodsucking parasite that it was, had sucked out every drop of magical blood in my body. Now I was nearly assured of losing the fight. Slowly, just like the Lens of Truth had sapped my magic, my happiness dissipated. Ah, what a sound mental state I was in, to be sure!

With a rueful glance at Navi, I took a brief moment to pity myself; then, releasing a pitiful sigh, I allowed my figure to go lax with despair. I pressed my head against the side of the drum and drew my hands up around my knees. At last I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to think.

And what success a man has when he attempts to think with his head against a vibrating drum! Bongo Bongo, apparently angry at having his prey slip away from him—although I can't necessarily say I was trying very hard to escape—began to beat his drum fervently. But then what a horrible, nervewracking sound emanated from his mouth! (Did he even have a mouth? I hadn't bothered taking the time to observe.) Placing my hands over my ears, I inferred that his agonised screaming was in response the wounds I had bestowed upon his hands, and I could scarce blame him for reacting so vehemently—and who could, when placed in that situation?

_He?_ Did Bongo Bongo even have a distinct gender?

The beating stopped, but the sound did not. I leant forward to evade the heavy rattling and decided that no, Bongo Bongo was neither male nor female. And anyway, I am always right until I'm proven wrong.

Eventually the sound evanesced, as well as Bongo Bongo's anger. Now, with his mental stability returning to him, the concept of tact seemed to take hold of him and transform him. Instead of slinging his hands around like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, he began to pan round the room, his muscles taut as if the idea of looking for his victim were particularly clever—which it was not!—and his hands trembling, almost imperceptibly. For a moment I watched this, captivated by the most intelligent display any monster had ever put on for me, ever—the act of looking.

And for some strange reason, I decided to, at that moment, release my arrow into the centre of the emptiness between his hands. There had to be a body somewhere, after all, and I had seen all of him before! I knew his shape! And I had every reason to believe that I might, perhaps, with some luck and prayer, shoot my arrow into his body and strike a critical blow. Aiming nervously, I breathed in deeply and let go of the arrow.

_Thwak!_

His fists clenched. My heart beat faster. Then I saw the arrow.

It was embedded in midair, about halfway between Bongo Bongo's hands—and what could be supporting it, I knew, but an invisible entity . . . an invisible entity called Bongo Bongo?

He dropped his hands and for a moment there was an incredible silence. And then there was a terrifying, resounding crash of the mighty drum. Then that penetrating silence descended upon us once more.

Tentatively I hoisted myself onto the drum, hardly daring to hope . . . and yet wondering, what could I have to fear? I knelt down to lessen the strain on my weak knees and closed my eyes for a moment to catch my breath. Then I raised my head—and stared in disbelief at the sight that materialised before my eyes.

Bongo Bongo lay in ruin on the gruesome head of his sinister drum, visible to all in his glory—the glory that came only with death. A beast of myth, a monstrous killer, reduced to this wreckage. All with one lucky shot with one lucky arrow.

I began to laugh. It was the greatest moment of my entire life.

------------------------------------

_Did you all know the original title for this chapter was 'In Which His Worship the Hero of Time Bringeth Death and Ruination to the Evil Shadow Being of Doom, Despair, Destruction, Dissolution, and . . . Curses, I Can't Think of Any More Synonyms Starting with 'D''? Heh._

_I am SO sorry this chapter was so long in coming, but you see, I was on vacation, for a portion of the time, at least. I was out of the country for nearly two weeks in the middle of this writing. This was obviously long enough for me to get some new reviews, including a full set of flames. But for any of you who actually enjoy this story, don't hold it against my dear Ametenshi; there's a long and complicated personal story behind those flames, we've worked it out, and there's no hard feelings._

_Of course, that's not the only reason it was so long in coming; I also had a particular personal tragedy, with one of my best friends, and I can't say life has been particularly easy. I'm not over it yet, my friend isn't over it yet, and I can't conceive at this point in time that it'll ever be over, but I'm trying to be hopeful . . . even if my friend has taken steps to make sure my life is miserable._

_Last but not least, I dug myself into a hole writing this chapter: I came up with a problem without a resolution, and it took me months to resolve. I changed my situations and my resolutions suitably; I pray I succeeded. Anyway, I know this didn't follow the exact process for defeating him, but I wanted to be a little different—and a little less repetitive._

_I'm not sure when the next chapter shall arrive, but don't get your hopes up for anytime soon. I don't think I'll be able to write more until I have my life in hand. This story can't be too much longer, now that Link's finished the Shadow Temple, but I could always go on and finish the game. Or I could stop here. It's up to you reviewers._

_So go ahead and review, but right now I just am not up for flames. My life's already in shambles; my writing needs to be the least of my insecurities. My friend has already made me question the merits of every other aspect of my character. _


	9. The Sage of Shadow

**IN MY HANDS  
**By Phantwo J Fou the Infamous

_Author's Note: __Link's conversation with the Sage of Shadow bears absolutely no resemblance to the conversation in the game. Oh well. __In other news, I do have intentions to explain Navi's absence from earlier in the story. However, that—and Link's dream—are going to be tied in later. This fic, I've decided, is going to cover the rest of the game, because I realised I'd enjoy that. Can't you just imagine the fun we'll have in Spirit Temple?_

_Special thanks to everyone who has reviewed this fic! I'm glad that most of you have enjoyed the ride. Hopefully this chapter won't disappoint you as much as it disappointed me._

**Chapter Nine  
The Sage of Shadow**

The sound of a mysterious portal being opened to my right _would_ have startled me, if it had happened _before_ this experience in this temple. But after frights of a much different nature, the unexpected appearance of a portal leading to something on the side of the righteous was hardly unwelcome. I glanced to Navi, still chuckling to myself, and then took a weary step forward. The Chamber of Sages beckoned.

I paused before stepping through, however, to look around. So many things to tuck away into the darkest depths of my memory . . . one last look at them, I reasoned, to fully appreciate the horror I had defeated. To fully appreciate what I was escaping.

Navi fluttered by my shoulder, staring at the portal with disbelief. I heard her very faintly draw in a breath.

"Link," she said, barely above a whisper, "do I ever tell you how amazing you are?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "You don't."

She released a sigh. "Perhaps I should."

"Yes," I agreed with a little hesitation and obvious arrogance. "Perhaps you should."

Then, without further ado, I held my breath and took a step forward, into the lighted portal. As the light enveloped me, I glanced through the haze at the walls composed of misery itself—and, releasing my breath slowly, closed this door of my life forever.

"Hero of Time . . . Hero of Time. . . ."

I _knew_ that voice.

The blinding light that surrounded me effectively disabled me from seeing the source, but I knew that somewhere, in the furthest corner of my mind, I held a memory of hearing that voice. A powerful voice it was, indeed, menacing and dangerous, but with a gentleness about it—and so dignified. Where had I heard that voice before?

Sheik had told me who the Shadow Sage was . . . and yet I could not for the life of me remember.

"Open your eyes, Hero of Time, and look upon the Sage of Shadow!"

I dared not disobey so commanding a voice, and so, tentatively, despite an inclination that doing so would be fatal to my vision, I opened my eyes.

Impa—of course. I had really seen her only once, but once was quite enough. This tall, proud Sheikah, guardian of the Princess of Hyrule herself, was unforgettable. Her very countenance could frighten and discourage a majority of the temple monsters . . . little wonder she was the Shadow Sage. Feeling her red eyes boring into me and penetrating my soul (and feeling decidedly uneasy under her gaze), I opened my mouth to acknowledge her, but she gave me no chance to speak.

"Link," she said, her tone suddenly becoming tender—almost affectionate. It gave me a fright. "How nice to see you once more . . . and in such splendour."

_Splendour?_ I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, thinking that perhaps the bloodstains on my tunic were less visible in blinding light.

Impa smiled at me—which certainly made her less forbidding. "You certainly look the part of hero more now than you did seven years ago, hmm?" She chuckled to herself, quietly. "Of course, Zelda would never hear of that, since you've always been _her_ hero, regardless of your stature. But then, Zelda has always been determined to believe what she will." 

Zelda. It had been a while since I'd heard of her. I hadn't really thought of her overmuch, but somehow, hearing Impa say that I was the princess's hero made me feel victorious. I wondered about her. Princess Zelda. The most well-known name in Hyrule—or at least, it had been, before Ganondorf's revolution. Where had she been, in these perilous years? Had she even survived?

Suddenly overtaken by panic, I stammered, "Zelda—her—her highness is . . . _alive_ . . . is she not?"

Impa was caught off guard by the question, but after a moment of looking stunned, she laughed again. "Oh, of course, lad! Why would we even bother fighting now if she had been among the thousands of casualties in this war?"

"Perhaps to save the other thousands of people that haven't yet died under Ganondorf's oppressive hand?" I replied casually. Impa narrowed her eyes. I apologised.

"Link . . ." Impa began, after a moderate silence. "Terrible things have happened to Hyrule."

I nodded. "Very perceptive."

She gave a grim smile and continued without acknowledging me further. "Zelda and her family had to flee the palace, of course. Her father and his entourage ran away to one of Hyrule's distant allies, but Zelda refused to go with them. King Harkinian wasn't pleased to leave her behind, but threats to his own safety forced him to run before he could convince her to flee with him. And so Zelda has remained here."

"In Hyrule?" _Oh, that was profound._

"The one and only."

"How?" The word was not intended only to question how Zelda had managed to survive seven years eluding Ganondorf. It was also questioning how she had managed to elude _me._

Impa drew a breath. "She . . . she went into hiding not long after the king's departure. She would have been taken by Ganondorf's minions, otherwise, most certainly. I doubt he would have killed her—the princess figures too prominently in his game of Destiny—but we could not risk her in such a manner. And so—"

"—she hid," I finished the sentence for her, slowly. There was no need for her to answer. I processed the information for a moment and followed up with: "Where?"

"Oh, Link!" said Impa, a mite exasperated with my curiosity. "I can't tell you _where!_ Not until—not until we can be certain that he is not watching. And don't look so ashen, boy! She'll be safe . . . and she'll reveal herself when the time is right."

I nodded wordlessly, then wondered why I was merely accepting that explanation. What happened to Link the Defiant? "And when shall that be?"

She laughed bitterly. "You ask a lot of questions, don't you? It shall be when Ganondorf no longer has control of Hyrule, I suppose. Then Zelda can reclaim what's hers without fear."

"Had she any intentions of showing herself to me, for encouragement if nothing else, before I win this war for her single-handed, Impa?" I folded my hands behind my back and met her eyes casually. "I'm merely curious."

Impa's lips started to curl up in what appeared to be a smile, but she, with visible effort, repressed it. She opened her mouth to speak and had to pause to avoid laughing openly. "Link . . . she had every intention. . . . Every intention of seeing you." Evidently the smile won the battle, and she broke into a wide grin. "I don't suppose it worked out quite the way she planned . . . but believe me, Link, she has every intention of seeing you . . . and it may be sooner than you realise."

I could sense that her story had been deliberately clipped. There were details that I, apparently, was not of high enough status to know. Of course, I reasoned with myself, I wasn't of high enough status. I was just the single-handed saviour of Hyrule.

Just the lone man who was to save the people of Hyrule from lonely, agonising deaths at the hands of an evil Gerudo king who possessed the Triforce.

Nothing of true importance.

But I didn't bother prying. I believed her—even if I knew she was as yet hiding something. How could I help but believe her? Whether secretive and forbidding or motherly and affectionate, Impa was a figure of command and authority. She was not the kind of person to doubt. She did not lie; she merely told only what truths were necessary to share. Impa knew the ropes.

Impa had _made_ the ropes.

"Link," said Impa without warning.

"Hmm?"

"She'll be glad to see you," she told me quickly. A wee bit too quickly. "She speaks of you often."

"Does she now." _She hasn't seen me in seven years. I hardly remember what she looks like. I can't imagine she remembers my appearance, either. And yet she speaks of me often . . . ? By Din's divine fire—why would she speak of me at all?_

"Indeed. And Link, I want you to promise me that when you do see her, you'll keep a steady head."

"I can't imagine that I wouldn't," I said cautiously.

Again, I noticed Impa's lips twitch a bit as she fought a smile. "Oh, Link, you're so confident! You'd be surprised how much things change over seven short years."

_Seven short years. . . ._

At that moment, without any warning, an insanely bright light filled the room, and I closed my eyes and raised my arm to shield myself from the brightness. For a moment there was utter silence—and then I heard a quiet sound . . . a sound that no words can truly describe. A second later the sound was drowned out by Impa's voice.

"Open your eyes, Hero of Time," she said softly, but with the same aura of dignity and power that I had sensed the first time she'd requested that of me that forced me to comply.

Slowly I opened my eyes, seeing the light fade, and raised my eyes to meet Impa's . . .

And there, floating right before my face, was a purple medallion.

It startled me. I suppose Impa heard my quick intake of breath, for she gave a quiet laugh as I stared at the medallion with intense confusion. I managed to look directly at Impa for a moment, and she smiled at me. Din! Even with that affectionate smile on her face she looked fierce and forbidding . . . as only the Sage of Shadow and leader of the Sheikah could.

I remember, as a child, she had frightened me. . . .

But nothing after the Temple of Shadow would ever frighten me again. Much less Zelda's nanny. 

"Take the medallion, Hero of Time," Impa bellowed, the tenderness in her voice suddenly fading into unquestionable authority, "and let my power as the Sage of Shadow aid you. Let our powers be as one!"

I recalled this part of the ceremony from my encounters with every other sage, and this time I hoped I was prepared to accept the merging of our energies into one collective power as I gripped the medallion steadily. I wondered, however, if I would be capable of receiving Impa's strength. My vision began to fade as I accepted her offering to me.

An intense moment passed, during which all I remember was mind-numbing agony—then it abruptly gave way to a few seconds of absolute euphoria.

For that moment I was not of this earth. . . .

And then it was over, just as quickly as it had begun, and I became aware of the Chamber of Sages once more.

I was almost chagrined at the familiar setting, until I laid eyes on Impa and understood the depth of the power I had just inherited.

Immediately I averted my gaze from the Sage and looked at the floor. I croaked, "Thank you," in a voice that would have put me to shame at any other moment. But right then, it didn't matter.

"Oh, Link," she replied brightly, "you've no need to thank me. Trust me . . . you've earned it, ten times over." I was about to respond, but she cut me off. "Link, what more is there to discuss? You have your answers. And now you've your responsibility. You have Hyrule to save, and it's time to resume your duties as Hyrule's hero. . . .

"The Hero of Time!"

A droplet of rain on my face—and someone vigorously shaking me—awoke me from my sleep in the Kakariko graveyard.

I didn't remember coming back to the graveyard.

Somewhere, in the deep corners of my memory, I had a vague recollection of a bright light . . . and then I came here. I blinked in confusion. Just where had I been—and how, from there, did I get _here?_

Suddenly I remembered it all. I sat up with a start, gasping and clutching at my chest as if the mere memory of the Shadow Temple had robbed me of my breath. 

"Link! Oh, thank Farore, you're awake," said an oh-so-familiar voice to my right. The shaking ceased.

My body was still screaming out in pain, just as it had been while I fought the Shadow Beast Bongo Bongo. (I swear, by Nayru herself I shall _never_ get over that name!) I ignored the physical agony as best I could and turned to Sheik calmly.

"I suppose I am," I agreed, wishing him to the depths of hell . . . easily attainable, as we both sat upon the pedestal before the entrance to the Shadow Temple. "Although to be honest, Sheik, I can't quite say I'm enjoying it."

I can't swear to it, since the wrappings around his face prevented me from seeing for sure, but I do believe he grinned.

"No worries, Link," he replied, patting my shoulder gently. "You've plenty of time to sleep—but when you came crashing down from the sky and landed on this pedestal, I . . . just panicked."

I couldn't help but smile myself at the image of my bruised and battered body falling from the sky and landing in the graveyard. No wonder I ached. "I came crashing down? My apologies. Blame Impa."

"Very well, then," said Sheik. "I'll do that."

I yawned absently. "Glad to hear it. May I sleep now?"

He nodded.

I smiled at him gratefully, closed my eyes and leaned down, only too thankful for a safe sleeping surface. I deserved it. I had walked into Hell in Hyrule and spent hours—no, days!—defeating the evils that awaited me there. And I had indeed defeated them! I was entitled to my sleep. I had earned it. I had won it. It was mine. My battle.

My victory.

Ah. . . . Blessed Nayru, I liked the taste of victory.

----------

_My apologies for the less-than-adequate length of this chapter. However, this chapter could not possibly be prolonged, and so all I can do is apologise for the long wait without a long chapter to justify it. __It took me forever due to two weeks on holiday and a week doing charity work, a week of little to no writing and a week of writing and rewriting. But here it is. As I said before, I hope you're happier with it than I was._

**_And remember, this story ain't over yet! _**_I'm going to the end of the game, as mentioned before. The Spirit Temple was beckoning me. The chance to reintroduce Link and Zelda was beckoning me and I just had to follow. The chance to reveal Sheik's secrets was begging to be written. So I decided to finish the game. *grin* I'm mentioning this again here, in boldface, so no one reviews me telling me I had a good ending (or a bad ending) or anything about the ending. The ending is not here yet._

_Last but not least, to anyone who hasn't read Lady Rose's _Legend of Zelda: The Return,_ leave right now and read that story. Right now. As in, if you've not read that fic and you're still reading this note, you're disobeying me. Don't bother reviewing this story; go read that story, which is vying to claim _Darkness Rising_'s title as my favourite fic ever. Heck—read both of those if you haven't already. Right now. Now, __anyone who didn't leave, please go ahead and leave a review. Comments, criticism and compliments are welcome. And don't forget—read _The Return_ as soon as you're done! It's worth the time!_


	10. O Sheik, God of Things Manly and Noble

**IN MY HANDS  
**By the Evident Zelda-hater, Miss Phantwo J Fou, Who Doesn't Hate Zelda. . . . Really . . . in Fact She's One of My Favourite Characters . . . Seriously . . . You've Got to Believe Me. . . . 

_Author's note: Won't it be fun to watch Sheik treading on forbidden ground speaking of his princess? Great! I know it'll be fun! I'm so excited! And in other news, I beat the Shadow Temple . . . again . . . last night, and I realised the conversation between Link and Impa in the last chapter wasn't _as_ far off as I'd fancied it. Oh well._

**Chapter Ten  
O Sheik, God of Things Manly and Noble**

I awoke to two crimson eyes staring right at me with the most startling and intense gaze I've ever seen from Sheik.

It positively gave me a fright.

I stumbled back off the pedestal—no, off the . . . bed?—and landed on the floor of . . . of . . . of a house.

How odd . . . I hadn't fallen asleep in a house.

"Ah, you're awake!" Sheik said with obvious pleasure. "Feeling any better now?"

I looked around for a few seconds, taking in my surroundings curiously. The cage in the corner caught my attention. There was a cow in it. A cow. In the house. How decidedly odd. Without tearing my eyes from the cow, I replied, "Much."

Sheik, noticing my very pointed glance, looked in that direction as well, releasing a low, throaty laugh as he came to the conclusion that I was gawking at the cow. For some reason that laugh reminded me of the also quite decidedly odd dream I'd had during my little nap in the Shadow Temple. After that dream, and my discussion with Impa, I couldn't help it; I started thinking about Zelda.

Zelda. I couldn't remember what she looked like. How, by Din, had I remembered her voice?

"Sheik," I said, still staring at the cow, "you and Impa are quite close, are you not?"

I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye, raising an eyebrow.

"And she's quite close to Princess Zelda, isn't she?" I looked at him briefly, then turned back to the cage. And the cow. "After all, she is her—caretaker, right?" Sheik nodded again. I tore my eyes from the cow and resolved not to look back at it, and instead I looked at Sheik. "So you must be acquainted with her."

He paled—noticeable beyond the white shawl covering his face—and hesitated for a moment before replying. "Uh . . . yes—yes, I am."

I studied his sudden pallor and raised my eyebrows. How strange.

Sheik stood up abruptly and headed for the door, giving me a gesture to follow. "She's perfectly safe, Link. She's still hiding from Ganondorf—"

"And from me," I interrupted.

He glared at me. "She's not hiding from you, Link. You are so often right in the epicentre of Ganondorf's forces that she, as yet, has had no choice but to evade you."

I tried to ignore his accusing tone of voice.

"Your curiosity surprises me," he said as he opened the door. I hesitated, but he motioned for me to go ahead. "You've—oh, after you, Link—never really taken an interest in Zelda before. Perhaps you might explain your sudden interest in the welfare of the Princess?"

I shrugged. "Inspired by Impa, I suppose."

"Impa?" He shook his head and waved a hand dismissively as we walked down toward the centre of Kakariko Village. "I should have guessed. Of course Impa talks about the Princess . . . Zelda is the closest thing she has to a daughter, after all. What did she tell you?"

"She told me of the princess's circumstances," I said absentmindedly. "That Zelda was hiding from Ganondorf, that her family had fled Hyrule." Pausing to turn around, I directed an unhappy glare towards Sheik. "But that _she_ stayed behind. And she refuses to reveal herself to me! Likely I'll wander off into my death with a heroic flourish of my sword before we ever have another audience. And then what?"

"Then nothing, Link—you're not going to die. But by the goddesses, Link, you never used to worry about Zelda before! Why does it suddenly matter, when yesterday you wouldn't even have cared? You knew she was hiding! You knew—"

"Impa told me I'm her hero," I muttered.

In an instant, Sheik's whole face had turned bright red.

Silence came down upon us for a moment, and I studied Sheik in surprise. He took a few seconds to collect himself, then cleared his throat and choked, "You're—you're everyone's hero, Link."

"I detect jealousy," I said with a grin.

"No! Th-that's not it! I—I'm not j-j-jealous! Of course not!" Aghast, Sheik began to pace, rubbing a hand idly through his bangs. "I'm just—" He let the statement hang unfinished and drew in a shaky breath.

My grin didn't fade. "Oh, calm yourself, Sheik." Then, glancing around idly, I added: "Where's Navi?"

I tried to sound casual, and I believe I had Sheik fooled, but I was really on the verge of panicking at the idea that she had abandoned me again, just like she had in the Shadow Temple. As appalled as I was that the fairy who so often drove me to the brink of insanity could completely shatter me by disappearing, it had happened once and could, if she were to vanish once more, happen again.

I still had no idea where she had been.

"Sleeping under your hat," Sheik replied. I repressed a sigh of relief. "Like she always does. You were not the only one who needed a little rest, apparently."

"Apparently." Trotting down the village stairs towards Hyrule Field, I tried to ignore my overwhelming urge to fall to my knees and kiss the grass. I resisted the impulse and instead put a hand at the level of my eyes* and scanned the field, taking in the familiar surroundings and delighting in them. "So where are we headed, Sheik?"

He walked up beside me and imitated my gesture. "Spirit Temple. Gerudo Desert." He took a step forward and stopped suddenly, whirled to face me and exclaimed, "The Lens of Truth! You—you still have the Lens, don't you, Link?"

There was a silence.

_Oh, Goddesses of Hyrule, I beg for your permission to kill him. . . ._

Grudgingly I reached into my quiver and retrieved the mystical glass, thrusting it into the Sheikah's hands before I'd have to look at it. He took it and clutched it to his chest with a vicious grip, giving the inanimate—or _was_ it?—object an affectionate hug; then, as if satisfied it was _real,_ he lifted it up to examine it.

His intense study of the Lens made me feel quite ill. But I stood by and waited for him anyway.

"You'll need this," he explained as he handed it back to me. "I am delighted to see it in such good condition—some owners of that treasure have treated it so poorly in the past . . . but of course, you would never damage such a precious object. Perhaps I was silly to even suspect it."

"Hmm," I mumbled neutrally, as many of my conscious thoughts in the Shadow Temple had been regarding how best to damage that so-called 'precious' object. My disgust at the prospect of using it once more knew no bounds.

Sheik threw a glare round the field and let it rest on me. "You might wish to summon the horse, Link."

With a nod I drew the Ocarina of Time from my quiver and put it to my lips. Delicately I placed my fingers over the holes to form the first note, closing my eyes as I blew into the mouthpiece gently.

I played until Epona's familiar whinny broke my concentration, and I looked up to my trusty steed as a grin spread across my face. I bit my lip, caught off guard by the sudden emotional rush that hit me upon seeing her again, and took a stumbling step forward towards the horse, one of the only constants left in my life. I gave Epona a clumsy but grateful hug round her neck and remained there until Sheik began to giggle.

Girlishly.

I turned on my heel after releasing my horse, glaring at Sheik with my eyebrow raised. I was having serious doubts about my guide and guardian. 

"Forgive me, O Sheik, God of Things that are Manly and Noble," I said disdainfully, turning to face him. "I believe that I am entitled to show affection for my horse. Sans laughter."

"God of things that are manly and noble?" Sheik let loose another giggle. "Is this the title I've earned for myself now?"

"Yes," I retorted. "And be grateful. There are far worse titles I could give you."

Sheik laughed in agreement. "Yes. Yes, there are."

"So are you walking to Gerudo Desert, then?" I asked, changing the subject as I climbed onto Epona's back. "I see no steed for Noble Sheik."

"Noble Sheik needs no steed," he said wickedly.

I opened my mouth to question him, only to close it again, realising there was no need to question.

He simply took the harp from his back and, with an evil glint in his red eyes, played a strange melody that I did not recognise. Soon the Sheikah warrior was enveloped in a bright light, which made me close my eyes—and when I opened them, Sheik was gone.

I sighed. Curse those Sheikah.

At least I knew my destination this time. In the past, after all, Sheik had disappeared without telling me that rather crucial bit of information. At least this time I was not forced under the guidance of my guardian fairy, from whom I guarded myself far more often than she guarded me. I drew in a breath and gave Epona a gentle rap on the rear, directing her towards Gerudo Desert.

For an hour, the steady clop of Epona's hooves on the dead grass and cracking earth was the only sound that dared to penetrate the unearthly silence of the dying Field of Hyrule. This quiet was far different from the quiet that permeated the Shadow Temple. In that temple of darkness, the silence was tense, suffocating, begging to be broken by the ghastly battle cry of an otherworldly being. But the silence here was unnatural—almost as if the land itself were desperately trying to cry out but had been quiet so long that it had forgotten how to speak. 

Distantly observing my surroundings and breathing in air that seemed to pulsate with the venom that had murdered the land, I wondered how long the field had been in such a state of disarray. The grass, once a luscious green, now lay in ruin, desolated by a lack of pure water and torn by careless travellers tramping over the fragile stalks. The few trees I encountered were discoloured and bore brown leaves. Some of them also leant heavily to one side, so weakened that their leafy burdens were too hard to bear. Many of the creatures that I had considered a nuisance as a child had disappeared as well . . . which _would_ have made me happy, if it had been seven years earlier. Today their absence made the field feel so vast and so empty. The sole creature that emerged to meet me now was the occasional lonely Poe, who dared to show herself for a few seconds, only to vanish again after a brief, hopeless fight.

Even the Poes had given up hope. Ganondorf's hand was choking even his own minions. How could this complete devastation be of any benefit to him? How could he stand this?

How could he _want_ this?

How could he desire _this_? What drove him to enjoy watching the world crumble and die?

Eventually even his own forces would die in a world like this. . . . And what was Ganondorf going to gain, when his world had perished completely?

I had always been taught that the answer to my questions was merely that this was the nature of evil. I had always simply accepted that this was the nature of evil. I understood that his evil motivated him to kill. Ganondorf had done this because he, in short, was evil.

But that still didn't tell me _why._

I'll never know why.

Neither shall I know how my mentors always described this indescribable thing as simply 'evil.' It was definitely deeper than that. Evil wasn't that simple. It had to be deeper than that!

It _had_ to be. . . .

Reflection was far too depressing. I wished Navi would wake up.

Another hour of eerily silent riding passed. I grit my teeth against the urge to think on the matter, deciding that depression was the very last thing I needed. At the third hour the sky had darkened considerably, and by the fourth all was cloaked in thick darkness.

Not that I considered it dark. Oh, no.

And, since my eyes were now quite capable of seeing perfectly well in the dark, I spotted the canyon leading towards the Gerudo Desert with little difficulty. I whipped Epona gently on the rear and galloped into the narrow passage, through a wider stretch of the canyon and across a small pool of water, and towards a much larger pool, judging by the sound of rapids before the—

"Dear heaven!" I exclaimed, yanking back on the mare's reins violently. "Whoa, Epona! The bridge is out!"

"Perceptive as always," murmured a lazy voice from underneath my hat.

I ripped the floppy garment off my head. "Navi!"

My guardian fairy, apparently still a mite drained even after her hours-long slumber, fluttered away from my head and yawned. "Why so excited, Link? Why such ceremony for the fairy that so often pushes you to the edge of insanity?"

Offering her a bitter smile, I returned my attention to the dismantled walkway ahead of us, assessing how to go about crossing the ravine sans bridge. The crashing of the rapids about fifty feet below us reverberated against the cliffsides loudly, making it hard to think. Blast. "Perhaps I'm mourning the loss of such pleasant silence," I told Navi, dismounting the horse.

Navi scoffed. "Hah! Nonsense. You missed me."

Though I snorted, I made no effort to deny it. Truth was an important ideal for a hero—one of the few ideals I adhered to. Attempting to neither lie nor receive a biting remark from the fairy, I decided it was smarter not to reply and directed my attention to crossing the river.

I turned to Navi and knelt before her, putting my hands together reverently. "Well, then, O Navi the Intelligent who is evidently capable of reading the Hero of Time's mind, I beg thee to apply thy knowledge and wisdom once more and contrive a method of bridging this bridgeless river."

"About time you learned your place," said Navi with mock arrogance. "Now, insignificant mortal, do you see that wooden sign held by those two posts across the ravine?" I nodded. "You might try your hookshot, Link."

"Aha," I mumbled, retrieving the hookshot from my belt. Three seconds later I was flying over the river with Navi at my heels. I landed on solid dirt on the other side with a _clunk_ and fought to keep my balance.

"Graceful," Navi murmured quizzically.

I grunted in agreement and took a step forward—and promptly stepped back as I caught sight of a small encampment only about ten paces in front of me. 

What crazy fool would have decided to set up camp _here?_

Slowly I inched a little closer to the white tent and the fire burning outside. Soft voices drifted towards Navi and me, the sources evidently sitting round the small flame and sharing quiet conversation. Navi zipped under my hat. I squinted. Something about the burly man within my field of vision seemed familiar . . . I'd seen him before. Somewhere.

I took another step forward to get a closer look, just as he lifted his head, allowing the light of the bonfire to illuminate his face. In that brief moment I recognised him: it was the head carpenter of Kakariko Village! Fitting, I supposed, as the bridge was out—and who to fix a bridge but a strong, dedicated carpenter like him?—but I did wonder, in spite of myself, what he was doing stationed in the Gerudo Desert. Obviously, the bridge wasn't out when he'd _come_ here, or the encampment would have been on the other bank. Something else must have drawn him here. Either way, it was good to see another friendly face, even if his visage was contorted with a scowl more often than not.

Or _was_ it friendly? How did I _know_ that he hadn't joined the forces of evil, like Ingo of Lon Lon Ranch?

Silent as a cat, I trod forward, hoping to glimpse his companion's face before I approached him head-on—after all, I wasn't yet certain that his motivations for being here were pure, and somehow the prospect of being snatched away into Ganondorf's clutches lacked a certain appeal. Oddly enough, even after all the racket that Navi and I had made over my crossing, both of the silhouetted figures seemed oblivious to our presence—but then, we did have the roaring of a waterfall to compete with. . . . Still, if _I_ had been the one sitting beside that fire, I would have noticed the ruckus. But then, I am the Hero of Time.

I didn't recognise his companion, but he looked relatively harmless—he was rather gangly and dressed in thin white clothing, with travel-worn sandals on his feet and unkempt brown hair—so I chanced it. I finished my silent approach and said, "Good evening, gentlemen."

Both men jumped, the carpenter letting loose a trail of curses that I shan't bother to record, and glared at me. I repressed my desire to laugh at their fear and instead gave them both a friendly smile. The carpenter recovered and demanded, "Good goddesses, boy, what do you think you're about, frightening old men in the middle of the night? Who, by Din, _are_ you?"

"No one you'd remember, sir," I said, trying to sound as amiable as I could. "Last time you saw me I was but a wee lad."

He accepted this, but remained rigid. "And what do you think you're doing here, then, boy?"

"I'm travelling," I replied. "And I saw your camp and wondered what _you_ were doing here. After all, Gerudo Valley seems like an odd place to visit for a campout."

"Travelling, eh? Where to?"

"I'm . . . not exactly sure." I frowned. "But it's somewhere within this desert, at least."

"You don't know where you're going? Then how do you expect to get there?" he said scornfully. Then his eyes widened. "You crossed the bridge? How'd you do that?"

I smirked. What an observant man. "Magic. And I _do_ have a vague idea of where I'm going. So, then, if you don't mind my asking, now that we've established why _I'm_ here—why are _you_ here?"

His companion, who had finally composed himself, said heatedly, "Carpenter. Broken bridge. You seem like a smart one, boy. Think about it."

"The bridge must not have been out when you arrived," I replied with similar malice. "You'd have been on the other side."

"Bloody smart thing, aren't you? Didn't someone ever teach you to hold your tongue?" the carpenter snapped acidly.

I shrugged mildly and told him, "Not really," deciding not to add that my life's mentor had been a talking tree.

He ignored me and grunted angrily. "The Gerudo thieves broke the bridge not long after we set up camp, and then those—" He stopped suddenly and then exclaimed angrily, "Those lazy fools! Lazy, stubborn, _stupid_ fools! If it weren't for them, I could _leave_ here and avoid questioning young lads like you! You aren't one of those Ganondorfians, are you, lad? That's not why you're here, is it?"

"Farore, no!"

"Good," he muttered, though I sensed that he was still skeptical. "But if you are, don't think me an old, senile fool who can't see through your front. You may look tough with that sword on your back, but you don't scare me." He broke off, relieving my ears of his raspy voice for an entire second before resuming in his tirade. "Stupid boys! Lazy, stupid boys! Curse those stupid boys!"

"And what 'stupid boys' are those, sir?" I asked—desperately hoping he didn't mean me.

His countenance seemed to darken as he chewed on his lip and prepared an answer. When he spoke, his voice was low and hateful. "My boys. My workers. My lazy workers who fled the camp to become thieves instead of helping me with this bridge! Left without so much as a good-bye, merely telling me that woodworking bored them! Oh, fine, then, let them run! Foolish boys, up to no good, letting their lives go to waste while they idle about—they're _all_ fools! Foolish, lazy, stubborn, stupid, _stupid_ fools!"

As I thought about the redundancy of the phrase _foolish fools, _his companion added, "And they ran straight to the Gerudo Fortress, no less!"

I considered this. "And you can't rebuild the bridge without their assistance." It was a statement, not a question.

He nodded and sighed, putting his hands into his hair and staring into the fire, exasperated. Hopeless. Abandoned.

"Well, sir," I began, with an idea forming in my head, "if they're at the Fortress, and I'm travelling toward the Fortress at present. . . . Perhaps I might stop there, deliver a little missive to a few idle would-be carpenters taking a holiday in the desert?"

The master craftsman's scowl faded. For a moment he was bewildered at the idea of assistance and unsure of how to agree to my offer; then he reached the conclusion that he must act tough in order to accept. He started blubbering in thanks, but quickly gave up when his ego forbade him to go on. "You might—? I, er—of course! If you could . . . just . . . well, I . . . send them home! Find out what those idlers have been poking their noses into!"

I bowed politely and refrained from chuckling at his short, disorganised speech. "Of course, sir. I bid you both good-night." With that statement and a final wave, I spun on my heel and started in the direction of the Fortress.

And didn't get far. Ten steps down the pathway, the carpenter called, "Wait!"

Surprised, I turned back to him. "Yes?"

"What's your name?" he said.

"Link."

"Link?" he repeated as a wave of confusion washed over his face. I was used to that. "Odd name. Well, then, Link—thank you."

"You're welcome," I replied, raising my eyebrows and turning back to the road.

Once out of sight of their camp (and, therefore, their blessed fire that showed me my path), I walked in silence and in darkness for at least a half-hour, deep into a canyon that lacked the blessing of light. Clouds had gathered overhead, blotting out the moon and leaving it darker than before. It still didn't rival the Shadow Temple, but it was, at least, _noteworthy_ darkness. An honourable mention, perhaps.

Navi drifted out of my hat some time later and yawned. She fluttered in front of my face lethargically, looked around and landed on my shoulder. "And where are we now, Sir Hero?" she mumbled lazily.

I shrugged. "Somewhere in the middle of Gerudo Valley. On our way to the Spirit Temple."

"You know where it is?" she asked.

I shrugged again. "Eh . . . I've a vague idea. But we're taking a slight detour to the Gerudo Fortress to send the Carpenter Brothers from Kakariko back to their master. I imagine the Gerudo would be able to help us locate the temple."

Without warning, Navi burst into mocking laughter. And laughter it was! Intense, miserable laughter, derisive and disdainful, loud and uncontrolled, contemptuous and completely uncalled for. The sound started grating on my nerves within one measly second, and I snapped, "And what, pray tell, is so incredibly amusing?"

"Of course the Gerudo will help you!" she cried, with absolutely no conviction. "Yes, Link, why did I not consider that! The Gerudo! Yes, the Gerudo will help you!" And she laughed harder.

I didn't think anything was funny.

"They _shall_ help me," I said, with force, determination and—hopefully—authority. "Laugh all you want, Navi, but I swear upon the imprisoned princess of Hyrule that the Gerudo shall help me."

Navi continued to laugh. "Upon your sworn oath, then, Link."

I caught sight of a stairway ahead, a sure sign that the Fortress was not far off. I shot Navi a venomous glare and, lowering my voice, muttered, "And here's my chance to prove it."

"Go for it," she replied, still chuckling quietly as she slipped under my hat.

Not daring to make any sounds at all, I tiptoed up the stairs slowly and flattened myself against the wall a few steps from the top. Hastily I glanced round the corner and searched for guards. I scanned the area briefly, but didn't see anyone . . . and then I glimpsed their fortress for the first time.

My breath caught in my throat. I barely stopped myself before gasping out loud as I gawked at the huge stone edifice emerging from the canyon walls. In wonderment, I took a careless step forward and tried to get a better view. Then the shrill sound of a whistle pierced my ears.

I froze, then shot a glance to my right—and promptly jumped back when I found two sharp scimitars just inches from my face.

"Stop right there!" a female voice screamed, evidently coming from the purple-clad girl in front of me waving the blades.

I raised my hands.

"You're coming with me," the woman said sternly.

Nodding feebly, I allowed her to take my hands and drag me roughly towards the enormous structure that served as their fortress—and watched as packs of other women (to my curiosity I could see no men among them), all equipped with dual scimitars, laughed at my misfortune.

Wenches. I'd have their heads.

Only a minute later my captor pitched me headfirst into what I could only perceive to be a pit of some sort, and I fell in darkness, all the while scheming the mass murder of the Gerudo tribe at the hands of the lone Hero of Time. These sweet visions of vengeance were punctuated only too soon when my head collided harshly with a rough floor.

I tried to breathe, but my reeling senses were too dazed by the fall. I decided to stop trying after a few short seconds. Mentally I cursed the Gerudo and vowed to get revenge on the wretched creatures that had imprisoned me, injured me, insulted me—and had unleashed terror on the world by spawning Ganondorf. What a fool I'd been to come here!

Succumbing to the throbbing pain in my head, I released my tenuous hold on consciousness and all melted into blackness.

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_*Phantom of the Opera fans should catch the significance of that phrase!_

_I've yet another fic recommendation, for anyone with a strong stomach and good taste: Split Infinitive's _The Apprentice _and _Legend of Zelda: Rebel Assassin _(which I'm actually responsible for reviving from the dead!). These fics are most assuredly _not_ for the faint of heart, but both are epic tales with ridiculously good plots—and, unlike me, Split Infinitive updates his fics in a very timely manner! Definitely take the time to read those fics. They're both long, but worth the time._

_Oh yes, and one note on the story, which I tried to make evident within the chapter but might not have done so well: Sheik never told Link that he had to stop at the Gerudo Fortress to get to the Spirit Temple, and therefore Link didn't originally intend to stop there. Hence the conversation with the carpenter. I'm sorry for the poor quality of this chapter—and the long wait time—but it effectively progresses the story, and I'm definitely not going to be able to do any better than this, so I'm just going to pray that you're happier with it than I am._

_Many thanks for reading! Reviews would be greatly appreciated._


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